The 2026 Mountain West football schedule has been announced. Conference play begins on Saturday, Sept. 5 with UNLV at Hawaii.
For the 2026 season, the Mountain West Conference features a revised lineup following the departures of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State to the Pac-12. New members joining the Mountain West this season include Northern Illinois from the MAC and UTEP from Conference USA, along with North Dakota State from the FCS.
Northern Illinois, North Dakota State, and UTEP will join the following returning MWC members — Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, and Wyoming — to form a 10-team lineup.
Each Mountain West team will play an eight-game league schedule and four non-conference opponents. Hawaii and teams playing in Hawaii can opt to schedule an extra non-conference game.
Featured non-conference match-ups for each MWC team in 2026 include Air Force at Army, Hawaii at Arizona State, Nevada at UCLA, New Mexico at Oklahoma, Jax State at North Dakota State, Northern Illinois at Iowa, Fresno State at San Jose State, California at UNLV, UTEP at Oklahoma, and Wyoming at Colorado State.
The 2026 Mountain West Championship Game will be played on Friday, Dec. 4 or Saturday, Dec. 5. The contest will feature the top two seeds in Mountain West play and will be hosted by the highest ranked team.
The MW’s national television partners CBS Sports, FOX Sports and CW Sports will now initiate a selection procedure that will include shifting some games to non-Saturday dates. That will be followed by the identification of network outlets and kick times.
2026 Mountain West Football Schedules
- 2026 Air Force Football Schedule
- 2026 Hawaii Football Schedule
- 2026 Nevada Football Schedule
- 2026 New Mexico Football Schedule
- 2026 North Dakota State Football Schedule
- 2026 Northern Illinois Football Schedule
- 2026 San Jose State Football Schedule
- 2026 UNLV Football Schedule
- 2026 UTEP Football Schedule
- 2026 Wyoming Football Schedule
2026 Mountain West Football Schedule
Saturday, Aug. 29
Hawai‘i at Stanford
Jacksonville State at North Dakota State
San José State at USC
Memphis at UNLV
Friday, Sept. 4
San José State at Eastern Michigan
Saturday, Sept. 5
Duquesne at Air Force
UNLV at Hawai‘i*
Western Kentucky at Nevada
Central Michigan at New Mexico
Fordham at North Dakota State
NIU at Iowa
UTEP at Oklahoma
Wyoming at Colorado State
Saturday, Sept. 12
New Mexico State at Hawai‘i
Montana State at Nevada
Mercyhurst at New Mexico
North Dakota State at Air Force*
Illinois State at NIU
Cal Poly at San José State
UNLV at North Texas
Texas Southern at UTEP
Northern Colorado at Wyoming
Saturday, Sept. 19
Nevada at MTSU
New Mexico at Oklahoma
North Dakota State at Sacramento State
NIU at Arizona
Fresno State at San José State
UTEP at Michigan
Wyoming at Central Michigan
Saturday, Sept. 26
Air Force at Nevada*
Hawai‘i at Wyoming*
New Mexico at New Mexico State
NIU at Georgia State
UNLV at Akron
Oregon State at UTEP
Saturday, Oct. 3
Navy at Air Force
San José State at Hawai‘i*
UTEP at New Mexico*
Wyoming at North Dakota State*
Cal at UNLV
Saturday, Oct. 10
Air Force at NIU*
Hawai‘i at Arizona State
Nevada at UTEP*
North Dakota State at UNLV*
Wyoming at San José State*
Saturday, Oct. 17
Nevada at North Dakota State*
New Mexico at Hawai‘i*
NIU at Wyoming*
San José State at UTEP*
UNLV at Air Force*
Saturday, Oct. 24
Air Force at Wyoming*
Hawai‘i at NIU*
North Dakota State at New Mexico*
San José State at Nevada*
Saturday, Oct. 31
UConn at Air Force
Nevada at UCLA
New Mexico at San José State*
NIU at UNLV*
UTEP at North Dakota State*
Saturday, Nov. 7
Air Force at Army
Hawai‘i at UTEP*
New Mexico at Nevada*
NIU at San José State*
Wyoming at UNLV*
Saturday, Nov. 14
Nevada at NIU*
North Dakota State at Hawai‘i*
San José State at Air Force*
UNLV at New Mexico*
Wyoming at UTEP*
Saturday, Nov. 21
Hawai‘i at Nevada*
New Mexico at Wyoming*
NIU at North Dakota State*
UNLV at San José State*
UTEP at Air Force*
Saturday, Nov. 28
Air Force at New Mexico*
Sacramento State at Hawai‘i
Nevada at UNLV*
North Dakota State at San José State
UTEP at NIU*
UConn at Wyoming
* Mountain West game
2026 Mountain West Football Schedule Grid pic.twitter.com/oIrqNQchs9
— FBSchedules.com (@FBSchedules) March 9, 2026
I am confident that NIU will succeed in Mountain West Football.
Do we really need to keep linking to X, The Everything App
Yes
You do realize that it’s Twitter and NOT X. X is not the everything app. Your name needs to be changed.
Are MW schools playing 8 or 9 conference games
I’m confused
Eight-league games. NDSU will play SJSU in a non-conference matchup.
I hope (after a few years) that NDSU goes to Bowl Mania.
IF they can do it in FCS, they will succeed in FBS.
With the Mountain West announcing, we still have MAC, CUSA and Sun Belt to wait for?
Anyone else as far as FBS goes?
No, just those three.