Everything You Need to Know About Arizona Opening Football Season Against Lobos
The Arizona Wildcats will open the 2024 football season on Saturday at home against the New Mexico Lobos.
For Arizona, it will be the debut of Brent Brennan as head coach. He takes over the program after the departure of Jedd Fisch, who is now at Washington. The game is also the first for the program as members of the Big 12 Conference. The schedule configuration looks the same as when the Wildcats were in the Pac-12, as they will play three non-conference games.
Here is a preview of the Wildcats and the Lobos.
New Mexico (0-1) at Arizona (0-0)
Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Ariz.
Time: 7:30 p.m. MT
TV: ESPN
Radio: KCUB 1290-AM (Flagship), KHYT 107.5-FM (sister station)
Coaches: New Mexico — Bronco Mendenhall (0-1 at New Mexico, 135-82 career as head coach); Arizona — Brent Brennan (0-0 at Arizona, 34-48 career as head coach).
Fun fact: Both coaches have ties to their new jobs. Brennan was a graduate assistant at Arizona in 2000 under Dick Tomey and later worked for him as an assistant at San Jose State before he later took over as head coach. Mendenhall was a New Mexico assistant for five years, ultimately rising to defensive coordinator before he moved to BYU as defensive coordinator in 2003. He became BYU’s head coach two years later.
All-Times Series: Arizona leads series, 44-20-3.
Last meeting: Arizona def. New Mexico, 45-37 (at 2015 Gildan New Mexico Bowl).
Last week: Montana def. New Mexico, 35-31; Season opener for Arizona.
Series notes: Arizona and New Mexico were once in the same conference, as they were members of the Western Athletic Conference from 1962-77. Arizona left for the Pac-12 the next year. New Mexico hasn’t visited Arizona since 2007, but the Lobos won that game, 29-27.
About New Mexico: The return of Mendenhall to the head-coaching ranks gives the Lobos some instant credibility. He hasn’t coached since the 2021 season with Virginia, a stint that led to one ACC division title. Before that, at BYU, he won a pair of Mountain West titles and guided the program through independence. He’s taken his team to a bowl game in 14 of 17 seasons.
The Lobos started their season with a 35-31 loss to Montana State, one of the best teams in FCS. Ranked fourth in the FCS coaches preseason poll, the Bobcats rallied to beat the Lobos in the final seconds of the opener.
Quarterback Devon Dampier threw for 172 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another 35 yards and a touchdown. The Lobos scored twice on fumble returns but lost a 31-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
About Arizona: Brennan inherits a team that won 10 games last year and beat Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. A good amount of that talent returns, including perhaps college football’s most explosive passing combination — quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
The defense is dotted with players that are on the Senior Bowl watch list and have NFL aspirations, including linebacker Jacob Manu, hybrid backer Tacario Davis and free safety Gunner Maldonado. Tyler Loop returns as one of college football’s top field goal kickers.
Brennan went out and hired two quality coordinators in Dino Babers (offense) and Duane Akina (defense). The connection? Babers and Akina were part of Arizona’s legendary 1998 team that went 12-1.
Next Up: New Mexico will have a bye week before they travel to Auburn on Sept. 14. Arizona will host Northern Arizona on Sept. 7.
MATT POSTINS