New Mexico receives a vote in preseason AP Top 25 college football poll, likely for first time ever

The Lobos have one man to thank for a historic preseason poll appearance.

New Mexico received one vote in the preseason AP Top 25, good for four voting points as the Lobos enter their second season under head coach Jason Eck.

The Mercury News’ Jon Wilner cast the lone vote for UNM, ranking the Lobos No. 22 on his ballot. He is believed to be the first voter to rank the Lobos in an AP preseason poll since its inception in 1936.

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— Sean Reider (@lenaweereider) August 17, 2026

Wilner told the Journal that potentially casting the first-ever preseason vote for UNM “never crossed my mind, honestly.”

“I based my preseason ballot (on) where I think the teams will end up in the (final) AP poll in January,” Wilner added in an email Monday. “My forecast for the Lobos is 10 or 11 wins and a Mountain West title, and that should be good enough for a spot in the final rankings.”

With Wilner’s vote, UNM tied with UNLV for the third-most voting points (4) among Group of Six programs. Boise State (43) and Navy (10) led the way while James Madison (3) and Memphis (2) trailed the Lobos and Rebels.

Liberty, Western Michigan and Tulane all received one voting point each.

UNM received four voting points in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll earlier this summer. Before that, the Lobos notched nine points in the Nov. 30 edition of the AP Top 25 following a 9-3 regular season in Eck’s first year with the program.

UNM had not received a vote in the AP Top 25 before last season since 1997, when the Lobos racked up 52 voting points in a Dec. 8, 1997 poll.

UNM is listed as the consensus betting co-favorite with UNLV to win a Mountain West championship. The Lobos have not won a conference title of any kind since 1964.

Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach him at [email protected] or via X at @lenaweereider.