The Mountain West Conference football opponents have been set for the 2026 season, the conference announced Thursday.
Beginning with the 2026 season, the Mountain West adds the Northern Illinois Huskies and the UTEP Miners. Team departing the conference include Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State.
Northern Illinois and UTEP will join returning members Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming in a nine-team lineup for 2026. Each league member will play four home and four road conference games, for a total of eight league matchups, in addition to four non-conference opponents.
The Mountain West Football Championship Game will be played on Friday, Dec. 4 or Saturday, Dec. 5 and will feature the two conference members with the highest winning percentage in league action.
Listed below are the opponents for each Mountain West team for the 2026 season. The complete Mountain West football schedule for 2026 will be announced in the coming months.
2025 Mountain West Football Opponents
AIR FORCE FALCONS
HOME: NIU, San Jose State, UNLV, UTEP
AWAY: Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming
HAWAII RAINBOW WARRIORS
HOME: Air Force, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV
AWAY: Nevada, NIU, UTEP, Wyoming
NEVADA WOLF PACK
HOME: Air Force, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Jose State
AWAY: NIU, UNLV, UTEP, Wyoming
NEW MEXICO LOBOS
HOME: Air Force, NIU, UNLV, UTEP
AWAY: Hawaii, Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming
NORTHERN ILLINOIS HUSKIES
HOME: Hawaii, Nevada, UTEP, Wyoming
AWAY: Air Force, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS
HOME: New Mexico, NIU, UNLV, Wyoming
AWAY: Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, UTEP
UNLV REBELS
HOME: Nevada, NIU, UTEP, Wyoming
AWAY: Air Force, Hawaii, New Mexico, San Jose State
UTEP MINERS
HOME: Hawaii, Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming
AWAY: Air Force, New Mexico, NIU, UNLV
WYOMING COWBOYS
HOME: Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico
AWAY: NIU, San Jose State, UNLV, UTEP
2026 Mountain West football opponents pic.twitter.com/zxahyj66ey
— FBSchedules.com (@FBSchedules) December 18, 2025
New Mexico State should be added as a full member.
Z-Man I am satisfied with current 8 Mountain West have in Football they are excellent for now.
There are plenty of good reasons for NMSU to join the MW:
1. Regional rivals New Mexico and UTEP are in the conference.
2. Even number of members for football, which allows the following Thanksgiving weekend schedule as part of a 9-game round robin conference schedule (Hawaii would thus be encouraged to schedule 13 games every year, as would all teams playing at Hawaii in a given year to maximize non-conference scheduling opportunities):
Air Force-Wyoming
Hawaii-San Jose State
Nevada-UNLV
The remaining teams would take turns playing each other on Thanksgiving weekend.
3. Puts every MT/PT G6 team in either the MW or Pac-12.
Sorry Z-Man I am not a fan of your conference realignment proposal & you are going to have to cope with it & believe me I do not want to disappoint you buddy & I am not enthusiastic about it.
SEC! SEC! SEC! I am being polite to Z-Man nothing to be concerned about.
With many disagreements I still care about him.
If the Mountain West wanted NMSU, they would have already added them.
The hard truth is that they don’t think NMSU would be a valuable addition, especially with nearby UTEP just added as a full member.
Again having an even number of football members should be too good to pass up.
Many college football programs would really like to ignore Z-Man.
Chances of his realignment proposals are zero sorry my friend.
Z-Man, LOL, no one important cares if a conference has an even number of members. A new member being additive to the existing members is most important.
Excellent for you Richard.
Pardon me for doing this to you Z-Man please leave New Mexico State alone they will be excellent with Conference USA.
Richard, the WCC did soon after it added BYU in 2011. They sought a 10th member to ease scheduling issues. That’s why they added Pacific.
It´s a little depressing what the MWC has become compared to what it used to be. I find it a little nuts that we used to be there with what it has become.
I mean, you folks use to be in the WAC. Take a look at what that conference is like now.
That´s a great point. I don´t know what the WAC even is anymore
I agree. I would love to see New Mexico State added to the MWC. They should have been added instead of Northern Illinois.
That´s how it would be if things made any sense. Alas, they do not.
Who is the babe in the photo?
With the departure of Boise State there is not a single school remaining who can attract more than 25,000 fans to a home game.
The AFA and UNLV both averaged more than 25K in home football attendance in 2025. New Mexico is around there too.
Doesn´t Wyoming get about that many as well? That´s a rowdy and passionate fan base.
Mountain West will do their very best & I have confidences with NIU Huskies.
@Dan NW-IL-MI how to speed up the process of UC Davis and Sac State joining MW football
I would let Football programs like UC Davis & Sac State to decide if they want to be part of Mountain West & pardon me Joseph, I am not involved with conference expansion.
Not to mention GCU’s slush fund, if they’re in a money tycoon, might as well add football.
Still no news who the MW’s media partners will be for the 2026 season.