How New Mexico Turned 21 Ranked Votes Into 55

New Mexico reached its first AP Top 25, as reported by the Albuquerque Journal, with a change that extended well beyond its existing supporters. Thirty-four voters added the Lobos to their ballots this week. All 21 who ranked them a week earlier kept them.

That brought New Mexico to 55 of 70 ballots and No. 22 overall, with 179 points. The Lobos had been unranked with 41 points on October 25. Their 21–16 win at San José State took them to 7–1 in Jason Eck's second season.

New Mexico breaks into the Top 25 at No. 22 AP. A September 5, 2026 game photograph shows Lobos players celebrating against Central Michigan. 55 of 70 AP voters rank the Lobos in the November 1, 2026 poll.

New Inclusions Supply Most of the Gain

The 34 newly including voters supplied 103 points. Among the 21 returning supporters, 15 raised New Mexico and six left it in the same position, adding another 35 points. No previous supporter lowered or dropped the Lobos. The two sources of new points, 103 and 35, reconcile exactly to the 138-point increase.

AP awards 25 points for first place, 24 for second and one for 25th; a team outside a voter's Top 25 gets none. New Mexico's expansion across the panel supplied nearly three-quarters of its additional points. Better placements on the already supportive ballots mattered, but they could not account for most of the breakthrough.

The 55 ranked votes still cluster near the bottom of ballots. Thirty voters placed New Mexico either 22nd or 23rd, and another 17 chose 24th or 25th. Its highest placement was 16th. The ranking rests on a broad group finding room for the Lobos, with relatively few votes far above their final position.

The Top 25 Boundary Also Changes

New Mexico was one of four entrants in Sunday's poll, alongside USC, Iowa and South Carolina. Wisconsin, Northwestern, SMU and Oklahoma State fell out. That changing field matters when assessing new inclusions: voters are filling the same 25 places each week, and changes elsewhere can accompany a team's own win.

The Lobos finished 16 points ahead of No. 23 South Carolina and 25 ahead of No. 24 Arizona. Fifteen voters still omitted New Mexico. Those omissions did not prevent the ranking because AP positions follow total points, without requiring every voter to include a team.

Boise State Retains the Higher Standing

Boise State remains ahead at No. 20 with 451 points and 67 inclusions. Of the 53 voters ranking both programs, 51 placed the Broncos higher and two preferred New Mexico. Another 14 included only Boise State, two included only New Mexico, and one ranked neither.

New Mexico has cleared the Top 25 boundary while remaining well behind Boise State in both inclusion and direct order. The next step in its poll case is therefore larger than holding the final few ranked places: the Lobos would need more voters to move them beyond the lower part of their ballots. The first ranking establishes a wider base of support from which to make that case.