Fresno State’s Sept. 20 Mountain West Conference opener against Boise State is arguably one of the most anticipated matchups of the 2013 season for Bulldogs fans.

Now Bulldog Stadium has the national spotlight to accompany it.

The Bulldogs and the Broncos face off that Friday night at 6 p.m. PT in a nationally televised game on ESPN, the Mountain West announced on Tuesday when it released a portion of its football national television schedule.

ESPN has televised the Fresno State-Boise State matchup the past 12 of 13 seasons on either ESPN or ESPN2.

This time, however, the Bulldogs and the Broncos — 2012 co-Mountain West champions with San Diego State — will face off as cross-divisional rivals.

Fresno State is competing in the West Division, and Boise State is in the Mountain Division.

Under the conference’s new alignment and format, Fresno State and Boise State will compete this season and during the 2014 season in alternating home games before taking a two-year hiatus.

The NBC Sports Network televised last season’s game between the Bulldogs and the Broncos. Fresno State lost 20-10 on the road.

Tuesday’s announcement was the first under a new agreement with ESPN as the second Mountain West national television rights holder for conference-controlled football games.

CBS Sports Network — which televised two of the Bulldogs’ games in 2012 — remains as the primary rights holder for the Mountain West.

Up to 44 games will be televised this season between the two networks on their various platforms.

Additional telecasts on the ESPN networks and the CBS Sports Network will be announced at a later time, according to a Mountain West release.

ESPN has televised 52 Fresno State football games on its networks­ — including 5 games in 2011 (two of them were broadcast on ESPN3), the last season the Bulldogs played under the national spotlight during the regular season — since 2001.

Fresno State opens the 2013 season on Thursday, Aug. 29 against Rutgers at Bulldog Stadium with the kickoff time to be determined.

Here is the rest of the initial listing of Mountain West football telecasts that were released on Tuesday (all games are on Friday unless otherwise noted):

• Sept. 13: Air Force at Boise State (ESPN / 5 p.m. PT)
• Sept. 27: Utah State at San Jose State (ESPN / 6 p.m. PT)
• Oct. 4: Nevada at San Diego State (ESPN / 6 p.m. PT)
• Nov. 8: Air Force at New Mexico (ESPNU / 6 p.m. PT)
• Thursday, Nov. 21: UNLV at Air Force (ESPNU / 6:30 p.m. PT)
• Nov. 22: Navy at San Jose State (ESPN2 / 6:30 p.m. PT)