Rio Grande Rivalry to remain once a year for Lobos, Aggies

It's like the break up never happened.

While Utah State is one of the five schools moving on this summer from the Mountain West to the new version of the Pac-12, the Aggies and UNM Lobos on Thursday morning gave a jointly-scheduled announcement of a two-year home-and-home series for the men's basketball rivalry to continue in a nonconference form.

And for the Lobos, that means two sets of Aggies are coming to the Pit this fall as the NM State Aggies will also play in the Pit as part of a new two-year home-and-home series — a decision to stick, for now, to the once-a-year series and not the twice-a-year format the rivalry featured for most of the past century.

As for Utah State, and recently-hired Ben Jacobson, the Logan-based Aggies will play in the Pit on Nov. 29. The Lobos will return the favor and play in Utah on a yet-to-be-determined date in the 2027-28 season.

The teams combined to win the past three Mountain West championships — Utah State in 2024 and 2026 and UNM in 2025. Both teams have lived life around the NCAA Tournament bubble the past few years and have both been vocal — regardless of coach at either program — about the need, and difficulty in finding quality nonconference games.

This past season, Utah State's final NET ranking of 25 meant they were a Quad 1 level matchup for the Lobos in both meetings.

UNM's 46 final NET ranking meant they were a Quad 1 win for Utah State in the Pit and a Quad 2 game in Logan.

Securing Quad 1 and 2 games has proven very difficult for both.

The new 10-team format of the Mountain West conference will feature an 18-game league schedule — nine home games and nine on the road against every league opponent.

With the NCAA now allowing 32 games for all teams, UNM has to fill 14 nonconference games and second year coach Eric Olen has been vocal about the need to get a lot of the work done in nonconference play because the new Mountain West likely won't provide many Quad 1 and 2 opportunities.

The future of the UNM-NMSU rivalry

The in-state hoops rivalry that was a home-and-home — once in Albuquerque, once in Las Cruces — two-game series most every season of the past century will again be cut in half the next two years, the Journal has learned.

While a date has not been finalized, coaching staffs at both schools are working under the understanding that there will only be one game this season and the NMSU Aggies will play in the Pit with the Lobos returning to the Pan American Center in the 2027-28 season.

There has not been a coach of either school eager to play twice a year, but the format has given each program its largest nonconference home ticket revenue game pretty much every season for decades. And for two schools asking fans and state lawmakers at every turn to reach deeper into their pockets to help their teams succeed, it does beg the question: why would neither school's Athletics Directors step in and push harder to return to that format?