UNM in talks to move Aggies football game to Aug. 29

New Mexico State athletic director Mario Moccia said Wednesday he has been in talks with the University of New Mexico about moving the Aggies’ Sept. 19 home game against the Lobos up three weeks to Aug. 29.

Per a story in The Athletic on Wednesday, UNM is in the final stages of moving its Aug. 29 season opener against Idaho State to Sept. 19 and playing the Aggies first instead. The idea, Moccia said, is to sidestep the state’s health restrictions of a 14-day quarantine for people traveling to New Mexico from outside the state.

“We don’t really know what the future holds in regards to all that stuff [local health restrictions] but this is a way to make sure both teams can get the football season started on time,” Moccia said.

NMSU was scheduled to play in the Rose Bowl Stadium against UCLA on Aug. 29, but that game was canceled when the Pac-12 Conference decided to play a conference-only schedule in response to minimizing the spread of the novel coronavirus. The same rule wiped out the Lobos’ Sept. 12 game against USC in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

UNM is expected to announce the new date for the Idaho State game on Thursday. If any more games are dropped — both teams play schools from the Southeastern Conference, which is expected to announce a conference-only schedule of its own — Moccia said he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a home-and-home with the Lobos if the dates align this season.

“Whether there’s fans there or not, any time you can get an Aggies-UNM game that benefits both programs, then it’s a plus,” Moccia said.