Bronco Mendenhall is coming back to Albuquerque. Everything you need to know as New Mexico hosts Utah State

Who: New Mexico (4-3, 1-2) vs. Utah State (4-3, 2-1)

When and where: 1 p.m. Saturday at University Stadium.

How to watch/listen: Altitude, a Colorado-based regional sports network, will carry UNM-Utah State with Robert Portnoy (play-by-play) and DonTrell Moore (analyst) on the call. For those who don’t have Altitude, themw.com will stream the same broadcast online.

J.J. Buck (play-by-play), Ned James (analyst) and UNM soccer alum Skye McMillon (sidelines) will also broadcast UNM-Utah State via radio on the Lobo Radio Network (770 AM/96.3 FM).

Who’s favored: UNM is a 3-point favorite over Utah State, per DraftKings. The over/under is set at 61.5 points.

Top storyline(s): You can probably guess, at least one of them. Because, with maybe the exception of nonconference games against Michigan and UCLA, no other game on the schedule has caught fans’ eyes quite like this one.

That, of course, is due to Bronco Mendenhall’s presence on the visiting sideline: After leading UNM to a 5-7 record last season, the one-year Lobo coach abruptly left to take the same job at Utah State, leaving plenty of spurned and outraged Lobo fans in his wake.

And on Saturday, he’ll get to hear from them — whether he wants to or not.

“I would rather not play the game, and I’d rather not go — just to be honest,” Mendenhall said at Mountain West Media Days in July.

But if the game means that much more to fans, does it mean that much to the players? Neither coach really seemed to think so, in no small part because of the high rate of turnover at both programs.

“I would think it means a little bit more (for holdovers from last season), but I don’t know,” UNM head coach Jason Eck said in a news conference Tuesday. “For all the new guys on both rosters, I don’t think it’s any different from any other game. Obviously I think both the coaches wanna win, you know, probably more than the average game.”

“I don’t see it as much from the players … There certainly could be people in the community and others that have issue with me only being there a year,” Mendenhall said in a news conference Monday. “But really, preparation and execution win the day, and these teams are competing for a Mountain West championship, they’re competing in a Mountain West conference game.

“Really, there’s not much time, energy or space for anything else. I don’t anticipate it being anything more than that.”

Saturday is also pivotal for both team’s postseason chances. If UNM wins, it’ll be one win away from its first bowl appearance since 2016 with remaining games against UNLV, Colorado State, Air Force and San Diego State; if Utah State wins, it’ll have to look for its sixth win with remaining games against Nevada, UNLV, Fresno State and Boise State.

Aggies to watch: Or, at least for this week, former Lobos to watch. Six players on UNM’s roster last season now play for USU, including cornerbacks Noah Avinger (45 total tackles, three interceptions) and D’Angelo Mayes (21 total tackles, two interceptions) and running back Javen Jacobs (211 yards, two touchdowns).

Quarterback Bryson Barnes has also been a big part of what Eck called a “pretty damn exceptional” offense, completing 121 of 186 passes (65.1%) for 1,644 yards, 13 touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s also rushed for 364 yards and seven scores — of the Mountain West’s non-Air Force quarterbacks, only UNLV’s Anthony Colandrea (410 yards) has been more productive on the ground.

“He’s dangerous,” Eck said of Barnes. “I’m very concerned about how we defend him. We gotta really try to mix up looks for him, keep him off balance, because he’s an excellent player.”

Lobos to watch: After racking up four sacks and 11 tackles for loss in a 41-25 loss to Boise State, UNM put up only one sack and five tackles for loss against Nevada. The Lobos will need one of its overall best efforts of the season to beat Utah State, but a more disruptive week from the defensive line — especially defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby — wouldn’t hurt.

“We got to put more pressure on the quarterback … Credit to Nevada for blocking us up better,” Eck said. “I’m sure (the Boise State game) caught their attention and credit to them and their offensive line coach for getting those guys ready to play. But we need to have more consistency.”

What happened the last time these teams played: A lot, and that might not even do it justice. On a picture-perfect day in Logan, Utah, former UNM quarterback Devon Dampier accounted for 372 of UNM’s 552 total yards, USU put up 503 and linebacker Dimitri Johnson’s interception with 1:04 left sealed a compelling 50-45 Lobo win, UNM’s third-straight after an 0-4 start.

Mendenhall’s postgame interview might have got as much play as Johnson’s pick, though. In the minutes after one of the high points of his time as UNM’s head coach, the former BYU and Virginia coach was visibly emotional in a memorable postgame interview with the Mountain West Network.

“Couldn’t help it,” he added after wiping away tears during a postgame press conference. “I love these kids and there’s nothing easy coming to them, me, this program, what we’re trying to accomplish. And it’s freaking hard.

“So when you try hard and you actually have a tangible result, it feels good.”