Lobos release 2009 football schedule

Posted at: 03/26/2009 9:15 PM
By: UNM Sports Office

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The 2009 University of New Mexico football schedule was finalized this afternoon as the Mountain West Conference announced the dates, times and television coverage for all 36 conference games. New Mexico will play all 12 games on Saturday with eight televised nationally on The Mtn. via DIRECTV and two more available nationwide in high definition on CBS College Sports.

Television and start times for UNM’s two non-conference road games at Texas A&M (Sept. 5) and Texas Tech (Oct. 3) will be announced at a later date. 

Once again, New Mexico will play an incredibly attractive and challenging schedule. The Lobos’ 12 opponents had a combined record of 89-63 (.586) in 2008 with five teams that won at least 10 games last year:  BYU, TCU, Texas Tech, Tulsa and Utah. Three of those games are on the road against teams that finished in the top-12 in the final AP poll - Utah (No. 2), TCU (7) and Texas Tech (12).

Following the season-opener at Texas A&M, first year head coach Mike Locksley and his new-look Lobos’ make their Albuquerque debut on Sept. 12 against Conference USA power Tulsa to start a three-game homestand at University Stadium.

New Mexico opens MWC play in week three (Sept. 19) when Air Force comes to town for a prime time tilt on CBS College Sports.

New Mexico State and its new head coach DeWayne Walker visit the following week on Sept. 26 for what should be a packed house at University Stadium. The past three games in the Rio Grande Rivalry at University Stadium have drawn well over 40,000 fans.

The Lobos’ open week will come after back-to-back road trips to national power Texas Tech (Oct. 3) and Wyoming (Oct. 10). UNM was one of just two FBS schools that did not have a bye week in 2008.

New Mexico returns home to host UNLV on Oct. 24 before hitting the road to face San Diego State on Oct. 31 and MWC/Sugar Bowl champion Utah on Nov. 7. The Lobos’ game against SDSU and former head coach Rocky Long – now the Aztecs’ defensive coordinator – will be carried nationwide in high definition on CBS College Sports.

UNM wraps up the 2009 slate with home games against BYU (Nov. 14) and Colorado State (Nov. 21), followed by a road game at TCU in the regular season finale on Nov. 28.

The 2009 Mountain West Conference football schedule plays out over 13 weeks and concludes Thanksgiving weekend. Fifty-two of the 55 MWC-controlled games are set for Saturdays (95 percent), with only one of the remaining three contests moved for television purposes.

The 2009 schedule currently features a minimum of 49 telecasts that will be available on a national basis. The entire slate of CBS College Sports Network and VERSUS games will be produced in high-definition (HD). The Mtn. will televise 30 games, again featuring a unique telecast schedule that includes triple-headers on select weekends to maximize institutional exposure and provide fans all the MWC football action.

VERSUS and CBS College Sports Network are widely available on cable systems across the country and via satellite on DIRECTV (VERSUS-Channel 603/CBS C-Channel 613) and Dish Network (VERSUS-Channel 151/CBS C-Channel 152). The Mtn. is carried nationally by DIRECTV (Channel 616) and numerous cable operators representing over 200 municipalities in nine states.

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