RENO — The 2020 Nevada football season will begin later this month as the Mountain West Conference announced the league’s schedule.
The Wolf Pack will take on the same eight previously scheduled teams, but with a new order and no bye weeks.
Subject to approval from state, county and local officials, the eight-game schedule will begin on Saturday, Oct. 24.
The top two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will face off in the MW Championship game on Saturday, Dec. 19.
The 2020 Mountain West schedule is comprised of 46 conference matchups playing out over nine weeks with no divisional delineation.
Nevada will have four home games at Mackay Stadium. The athletics department continues to work through local and state directives related to allowing fans in the stadium at reduced capacity.
Nevada will open at home on Oct. 24 against Wyoming.
The Wolf Pack will then travel to Las Vegas for the first collegiate football game in the new Allegiant Stadium as Nevada and UNLV will Battle for the Fremont Cannon on Nevada Day Weekend.
The Wolf Pack comes back to Mackay to play host to Utah State on Nov. 7 before traveling to New Mexico to take on the Lobos on Nov. 14.
San Diego State comes to Mackay Stadium on Nov. 21 and the Wolf Pack gets a trip to Hawaii for Thanksgiving with the game against the Rainbow Warriors scheduled for Nov. 28.
Nevada opens December with the final home game scheduled for Dec. 5 against Fresno State and the Wolf Pack closes out the regular season on Dec. 12 at San José State.
Today’s release represents the first phase in the 2020 football schedule process. Mountain West national television partners CBS Sports and FOX Sports will now initiate a selection procedure which will include the shifting of several games to Thursdays and Fridays.
Additional announcements on television selections will be made in the near future. All games the first week will be played on Saturday, Oct. 24.
“We are excited to get our student-athletes back on the football field this fall,” said Commissioner Craig Thompson. “The shift away from a two-division format was necessary to optimize the schedule and allow for maximum flexibility given the various constraints which had to be considered.
Inasmuch as the season begins with an uneven number of Conference games, and the possibility exists additional games may be lost to COVID-19 challenges, the procedures for determining the participants in and location for the MW Football Championship Game were adapted to accommodate a range of outcomes in as equitable a fashion as possible.”
