College GameDay in Albuquerque? Yeah, that sounds a little crazy. Maybe that’s why people are talking about it. A social media campaign has started pushing ESPN to bring its traveling crew to New Mexico for the Lobos’ Oct. 24 matchup with North Dakota State. On its own, that might be easy to laugh off. But then, Rece Davis gave fans a reason to keep talking about it. 

During a discussion about the game, Rece Davis made it clear that ESPN is watching what happens between now and then.

“I need North Dakota State to win this game,” he said. “We don’t root for teams. Pete says this often. We root for the story. They got a game in New Mexico in a couple weeks. That could be really, really attractive.”

Pete Thamel immediately picked up on the breadcrumb and asked whether Rece Davis was suggesting GameDay could head to Albuquerque. His response somehow made the whole thing even more interesting.

“I’m not saying GameDay’s going there,” he said. “But I’m not saying it’s not.”

Nobody should book the stage yet, but ESPN is at least looking at the matchup. Since their game campus debut in 1993, College GameDay has never visited the University of New Mexico for a Lobos game. That’s a pretty wild blank spot for a show that has spent decades bouncing between the biggest stadiums and strangest corners of college football.

There’s a reason. ESPN isn’t an official Mountain West media partner. The conference’s TV deals sit with Fox, CBS, and The CW, which makes an Albuquerque stop a tougher sell. But this Lobos team is giving the network something to work with.

This would not be the first time ESPN gives in to a passionate underdog crowd. ESPN has rewarded non-power programs and viral fan movements before, making memorable stops at places like James Madison and Appalachian State. When a passionate fanbase creates enough noise online, GameDay producers love nothing more than crashing an unexpected football party.

New Mexico is off to its best start in nearly three decades and has turned University Stadium into something resembling a very unpleasant place for visitors. The Lobos have won 10 straight at home, their longest home winning streak in 91 years. And they’re not just scraping by.

New Mexico’s three home games this season have ended in 38-7, 70-7 and 61-7 blowouts. The latest, a 61-7 demolition of UTEP, drew 28,256 fans, the biggest home crowd of the season. That’s still below the stadium’s 37,440 capacity. And therein lies the obvious problem.

GameDay likes giant crowds. It likes campuses waking up at 6 a.m. to fight over parking spots. It likes students packed around the set hours before kickoff. The Lobos would have to prove Albuquerque can deliver that atmosphere. The matchup itself could do plenty of the heavy lifting.

North Dakota State is 5-0 and currently the only unbeaten team in the Mountain West. The Bison already have a road win over Air Force and followed that up by shutting out Wyoming.

New Mexico, meanwhile, is climbing the national rankings conversation and sitting near the top of the Mountain West picture. If both teams keep winning, Oct. 24 could become a legitimate showdown.

Lobos coach Jason Eck isn’t campaigning for the cameras, though. When asked whether he might start cutting wrestling-style promos to help land GameDay, he told everyone to stop thinking about it.

“I know the quickest way to make sure that doesn’t happen would be for us to go, ‘There’s the why,’” he said.

His suggestion is that fans should write Kirk Herbstreit a letter. Now, a social media post calling for GameDay to come to Albuquerque has already made the rounds, and even his wife, Kimberly Eck, shared it. So now there’s an odd little chain reaction happening. Fans are lobbying ESPN, the coach is pretending not to care, and Rece Davis is openly admitting the matchup could be “really attractive.”

Nothing is official. ESPN hasn’t announced Albuquerque as its destination. But if North Dakota State keeps winning and New Mexico keeps turning home games into weekly beatdowns, who knows? And honestly, seeing that famous set with the Sandia Mountains in the background would be one heck of a change of scenery.