Lobos 2023 Football Schedule Released
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Four home games in September and October, including the annual rivalry matchup with New Mexico State highlight the 2023 football schedule for the Lobos, as announced by Mountain West officials on Thursday. The home schedule will see UNM face off with San Jose State, Hawai’i, UNLV and Utah State in University Stadium along with New Mexico State and Tennessee Tech.
Fans can download a printable version of the schedule here, and fans can download graphics for social media, for desktop backgrounds and for various cell phones here and here.
The MW will debut a three-year schedule rotation where, within Conference play, each institution will face two opponents annually and six other teams on an alternating basis. Throughout the cycle, all institutions will play each other at least twice, including once at home and once on the road. The Lobos have San Jose State and Boise State annually.
For the 2023 cycle, UNM does not play San Diego State, Air Force or Colorado State. The 2023 season will be the first Mountain West season without a divisional alignment since 2012 (not counting the shortened 2020 COVID season).
Overall, New Mexico will play six bowl teams from a year ago.
New Mexico opens the season with a trip to College Station to face Texas A&M on September 2. It marks the third time in the past seven seasons that the Lobos and Aggies will matchup, and it’s one of three Aggies on the schedule for UNM.
The Lobos will return home for a two-game home stand, one of two on the year. The Lobos will play Tennessee Tech for the first time in school history to open the home slate on Saturday, September 9 before hosting New Mexico State on September 16 at University Stadium.
UNM’s final non-conference game will see New Mexico fly to Amherst to face Massachusetts. It’s the furthest east that UNM will have ever traveled to play a game, as it is 2,162 miles to between Albuquerque and Amherst. It will take UNM’s equipment truck approximately 32 hours to make the trip.
UNM’s previous longest eastern trip was in 2016 when the Lobos faced off with Rutgers. UNM last played in the Eastern Time Zone in 2019 when it took on Notre Dame.
After UMass, UNM opens conference play on the road against Wyoming on September 30. After a week off, UNM will host its second two-game home stand, hosting San Jose State on the back-end of Balloon Fiesta Weekend on October 14, and then host Hawai’i on October 21. The Lobos end October with a trip to Nevada on the 28th, giving UNM four road games in all four time zones in the Continental United States for the first time in school history.
UNM opens November at home with UNLV on 11/4 before a final two-game swing to end the road schedule. UNM’s only potential cold-weather game will be at Boise State on November 11 and the team follows that up with a trip to Fresno State on November 18 for the Bulldogs’ Senior Day.
UNM completes its regular season with a Thanksgiving weekend game at home against Utah State. It marks the fourth time in the last five seasons that UNM and Utah State will face each other on Thanksgiving Weekend.
Today’s release represents the first phase in the 2023 football schedule process. Mountain West national television partners CBS Sports and FOX Sports will now initiate a selection procedure which will include the shifting of particular games to non-Saturday dates. That will be followed by the identification of network outlets and kick times.
Season tickets for Lobo Football go on sale in April. The team is nearing the end of Spring Practice, with the Annual Spring Showcase taking place on Monday night, March 6 at 6 p.m. at University Stadium. There will be limited edition posters which can only be obtained at that event. Several food trucks will be on hand along with UNM’s grab-and-go concessions area. Robert Portnoy will be interviewing players live during the game, with those interviews shown on the video board.
After the Showcase and game, players will be on the field available for autographs. The Spring Showcase is the first chance for Lobo Fans to get a look at UNM’s revamped offense as UNM’s offensive staff saw several changes from 2022, including new offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent, who was most recently at UAB.
NOTES: New Mexico last played in four time zones in 2016, when it played in the Eastern, Central, Mountain and Hawai’ian Time Zones, somehow missing the Pacific Time Zone … the game at UMass is the second part of a home-and-home, as UMass was originally scheduled to visit Albuquerque in 2020 … In 2023, Air Force will play in five times zones … New Mexico and Air Force will not play each other for the first time since 1997, when the old WAC quadrant system had the two teams miss each other in 1996 and 1997 … UNM’s game with Texas A&M comes in a stretch where UNM will play an SEC team in six out of seven seasons as UNM has A&M again in 2027, Oklahoma in 2026 and Auburn in 2024 (UNM won’t play an SEC team in 2025 but has both UCLA and Michigan) … New Mexico and UMass are still working on a replacement date for the lost 2020 game that was postponed due to the COVID pandemic.