New Mexico State Releases 2019 Football Schedule... and it’s a doozy

Merry Christmas everyone! Did you get everything you asked for this year? No? Well, consider this a bonus gift because today NM State announced their 2019 football schedule.

This schedule has everything: three Power 5 opponents, three Mountain West foes, a bunch of first time meetings, a couple rivalry games and a home-and-home series with fellow independent Liberty.

The 2019 opponents may be the toughest I can remember the Aggies playing, at least since 2013 when the Aggies played four P5 teams. Despite the toughness of the opponents, I still see a potential six wins on the board, granted we can sweep UNM and UTEP.

Here’s the breakdown of the schedule:

There are some interesting changes to next year’s schedule.

• The two rivalry games, UNM and UTEP, are being played later in the year than usual. Both games are usually played back to back within the first four weeks of the season but next year will be spread out.
• The UTEP game will be the second to last game of the season in what will almost certainly be a must win if the Aggies want to reach bowl eligibility.
• Another interesting part of the new schedule is the three week mini-MW conference slate. Almost the entire month of September will be against Mountain West foes and will give the Aggies a chance to redeem themselves after this year’s rough outings.
• For the second year in a row, the third to last week of the regular season will have NM State square off against an FCS foe. Incarnate Word will come to Las Cruces a year after playing the Lobos in Albuquerque.
• ¹⁄₄ of the opponents on the 2019 slate will face off against the Aggies for the first time ever. Alabama, Washington State, and Central Michigan will all get their first impressions of Pistol Pete next year. It should be really fun to see both WSU and NM State’s Air Raid offenses face off to start the season.