By the numbers: What to know ahead of Michigan football season opener vs. New Mexico

Saturday night at The Big House, Michigan Wolverines football is looking to avoid what it’s done only 23 times in the program’s 145 years: losing a season opener. The Wolverines are 119-23-3 to begin seasons, looking to improve upon that mark when they take on New Mexico at 7:36 p.m. ET on NBC.

Michigan has won 14 of its last 18 and 49 of its last 62 season openers. The Wolverines have come out on top in nine of their last 11, too, with the only setbacks coming away from Ann Arbor — at Utah in 2015 and at Notre Dame in 2018.

That 24-17 loss to Utah actually marks the last and only time the Maize and Blue have fallen to a Mountain West opponent. New Mexico hails from that league, which Michigan has had great success against. U-M is 14-1 against Mountain West programs at the time the game was played and 13-0 versus teams currently in the league. Utah, of course, moved to the Pac-12 ahead of the 2011 season and is now a member of the Big 12.

That said, this will be the first-ever meeting between Michigan and New Mexico.

The Wolverines finished the 2024 campaign with an 8-5 record, missing the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2020. They’re expected to compete for the 12-team tournament this year, checking in No. 14 in both major polls, released by the Associated Press and coaches.

Here’s a look at Michigan’s preseason and final rankings in the AP poll since 2015:

Season	Preseason Rank	Final Rank
2025	14	?
2024	9	N/R
2023	2	1
2022	8	3
2021	N/R	3
2020	16	N/R
2019	7	18
2018	14	14
2017	11	N/R
2016	7	10
2015	N/R	12

Michigan has only two opponents that are ranked in the AP poll: No. 3 Ohio State and No. 18 Oklahoma.

There are five Big Ten teams besides Michigan in the top 25 of the AP poll, but the Wolverines avoid playing four of them in the regular season — No. 2 Penn State, No. 7 Oregon, No. 12 Illinois and No. 20 Indiana.

Additionally, Michigan has just three 2025 foes that had winning records last season — Nebraska (7-6), USC (7-6) and Ohio State (14-2). The Wolverines have beaten all three teams in their last meeting against them, and haven’t lost to one of those programs since falling to Ohio State in 2019. U-M took down USC, 27-24, and Ohio State, 13-10, a year ago.

The Wolverines have a unique schedule, which doesn’t feature consecutive home games for the first time since 1937 and third time in program history (1924). They’ll play six road tilts for just the second time, with the 6-0 mark in 1986 being the only other occurrence.

For the first time ever, Michigan will open with back-to-back night games, set to host New Mexico (7:30 on NBC) and go to Oklahoma (7:30 on ABC). The Wolverines are 52-28 in games starting after 5 p.m. local time.

By the numbers: Michigan vs. New Mexico

2 Wins against FBS teams for New Mexico head coach Jason Eck in three seasons as the head man at FCS Idaho from 2022-24. His Vandals beat Wyoming in 2024 and Nevada in 2023. In six outings against FBS opponents, Eck’s Vandals went 2-4 with no losses by more than 14 points.

3 Freshmen have started at quarterback for Michigan: Rick Leach in 1975, Chad Henne in 2004 and Tate Forcier in 2009. Bryce Underwood, who was named Michigan’s starter this week, will join that company this season.

9 Wins for New Mexico in 2024, its most in any season since 2016 (nine). The Lobos were one game shy of earning bowl eligibility for the first time in six years, falling to Hawai’i, 38-30, to conclude the regular season.

11 New Mexico Lobos on last year’s roster transferred to Power Four institutions, including first-team All-MWC quarterback Devon Dampier (Utah). There are no players on the roster that logged a pass or rush attempt for the Lobos last season, and the top seven receivers left as well.

23 Points allowed by the Michigan defense in its last three games of the 2024 season … combined. The Wolverines shut out Northwestern (56-0) and put together masterpieces in wins over Ohio State (13-10) and Alabama (19-13).

24-14 Loss for Eck’s Idaho Vandals at Oregon to open last season. The Vandals were down only three points with less than six minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

89 Tackles last season by Michigan senior linebacker Ernest Hausmann, the most on the team. Fellow senior ‘backer Jaishawn Barham was second with 66.

125th Or worse is where New Mexico ranked in major defensive statistical categories last season — scoring (130th), total (131st), rushing (126th) and passing (129th) defense.

135th Is where New Mexico ranks in ESPN.com’s returning production metric (128th on offense, 133rd on defense).

2016 Marked New Mexico’s last bowl appearance, with the Lobos beating UTSA in the New Mexico Bowl, 23-20.