2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season , or the college football season , began on Thursday , September 2 , 2010 . The season progressed through the regular season and bowl season , and ( aside from all - star exhibition games that follow the bowl games ) concluded with the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game on Monday , January 10 , 2011 . Conference realignment . During the first half of 2010 , and especially starting in May of that year , several conferences were widely speculated to be considering expansion , and a number of schools were believed to be seriously considering conference moves . Due to conference notice requirements , no changes announced in 2010 will take effect until at least 2011 . The first change to be officially announced came on June 10 , when the Pacific - 10 Conference announced that Colorado had accepted that conference ' s invitation to join . At the time , it was not yet known whether Colorado would officially join the Pac - 10 in 2011 or 2012 ; in September 2010 , it was confirmed for 2011 . The following day saw two schools change conferences : In the following days , it was widely speculated that the five public schools in the Big 12 South Division ( Texas , Texas A & M , Texas Tech , Oklahoma , and Oklahoma State ) would leave as a unit for the Pac - 10 . A & M was also reported to be flirting with the SEC . However , a last - minute deal announced on June 14 saw Texas cast its lot with a truncated Big 12 , with the remaining schools also pledging their support for the conference . Rebuffed by the Big 12 schools , the Pac - 10 shifted its focus to the Mountain West , extending an invitation to Utah on June 16 to join effective in 2011 . Utah officially accepted the next day . When Utah and Colorado join , the Pac - 10 will officially become the Pac - 12 . Two months later , reports surfaced indicating that Brigham Young would leave the Mountain West Conference to become an independent in football , with its other sports rejoining the school ' s former conference , the WAC . On August 31 , BYU pulled a surprise , indeed becoming an independent football team , but instead joining the West Coast Conference for the 2011 - 12 season . The MWC responded on August 18 by inviting current WAC members Fresno State , Nevada , and Utah State . Utah State declined the MWC offer , but the other two accepted later that day . After threats of legal action by the WAC and the Fresno State - Nevada pairing , the two schools agreed to stay in the WAC through the 2011 - 12 season in exchange for a greatly reduced exit fee . Realignment activity then shifted to Division I FCS for several weeks , although rumors continued to swirl regarding potential movement in several conferences . The Big East Conference also announced that it had extended an invitation to Villanova , a founding non - football member , to upgrade its football program to FBS level and join in that sport . On November 11 , the WAC announced that Texas State , currently a member of the FCS Southland Conference , and UTSA , which planned to launch an FCS program in that conference in 2011 , would upgrade their football programs to FBS level , join the WAC in 2012 , and become full FBS members in 2013 . On November 29 , the next major domino fell when TCU announced it would join the Big East in 2012 ( less than a year later , on October 10 , 2011 , TCU announced that it would not join the Big East and would join the Big 12 in 2012 instead ) . The MWC replaced TCU for football only with Hawaii on December 10 ; Hawaii ' s other sports will join the Big West Conference . New and expanded stadiums . No new stadiums opened in the 2010 season . However , expansion projects at several stadiums were completed in time for the season : Notes . Ten most watched regular season games in 2010 . 7 of 10 games involved with SEC teams - All seven involved a team from the State of Alabama Heisman Trophy voting . The Heisman Trophy is given to the year ' s most outstanding player . Awards and honors . Overall . Niche Offense . Quarterback Running Back Wide Receiver Tight End Lineman Defense . Defensive Line Linebacker Defensive Back Assistant Coaching changes . Preseason and in - season . This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1 , 2010 . For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2010 , see 2009 NCAA Division I FBS end - of - season coaching changes . End of season . Note :