ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – University of New Mexico‘s Football team opens its season on Saturday against San Jose State in California, and with the current COVID-19 problems, the team would have to quarantine for 14 days upon returning home after that.
UNM Athletic Director Eddie Nunez said Friday that the team will not return home after their game on Saturday but will instead stay in Las Vegas, Nevada, to avoid the 14-day quarantine. Nunez also said that the team will remain in Las Vegas for at least one week and will approach the situation week to week after that.
UNM does have a game in Hawaii the following Saturday, so by staying in Las Vegas, the team will be able to play in that game.
To the season opener now, UNM will play San Jose State at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The morale is high within the team but Head Coach Danny Gonzales does expect some rust in their season opener. “It will be sloppy, there will be some sloppy play and, hopefully, we get to midway through the second quarter and we get a feel for doing some of those things. You know, get better as the game goes on, and then hopefully by game two you should see your most improvement, between game one and game two, but because of the COVID stuff, it might be game three or game four. But, you will definitely see a rusty football team,” said Gonzales.
The New Mexico Bowl announced the date and time for their 15th annual bowl game on Friday and for the first time ever it will not be played on the opening weekend of Bowl Season. The Bowl game will now be played on December 24 at 1:30 p.m. and, at the moment, it’s unknown if the game will be played in Albuquerque.
New Mexico Bowl released the following statement:
Due to the ongoing health pandemic, the situation regarding our bowl game is fluid, and conversations are ongoing. The goal, as always, is to showcase our beautiful city and state and put on a memorable, safe experience for the student-athletes.
Meanwhile, New Mexico United announced that the club will be launching a USL Academy Program in 2021. This new team will be made up of local players between the ages of 16 to 19. “It’s a pathway for these players in New Mexico to play for their local club team professionally in New Mexico. We believe this is a key piece to our club,” said Assistant Coach and Director of Youth Programming Zach Prince.
A 9-match schedule is expected to announced at a later date. New Mexico United Academy Team will compete in the Southwest Division in 2021 against the following:
- Colorado Rush
- El Paso Locomotive FC
- FC Tucson
- Orange County SC
- Phoenix Rising FC
- San Francisco Glens
- Ventura County Fusion
Jackson and Wink trained Maurice Greene made weight on Friday, ahead of his UFC bout with Greg Hardy on Saturday. Hardy did not come in on weight initially but after a second try, he would come in on weight and will be 14 pounds heavier than Greene.
Prior to this fight, KRQE Sports talked to Greene and it doesn’t seem like he would be fazed by his opponent coming in heavier than he is. “The long and the short of it is, you can have a game plan and you can think you know how you are going to do it but whoever shows up that night to fight is going to win the fight. You know, I want it more I got a family to feed. You know, he was already in the NFL, I need to buy a house big homie, you know you are just in my way,” said Greene.
Main Card bouts for that UFC Fight Card will start at 5 p.m. on Saturday on on ESPN+.