The 2010 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah during the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by sixth year head coach Kyle Whittingham and played their homes game in Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were members of the Mountain West Conference. 2010 was the Utes' final year in the Mountain West, as they began play in the Pac-12 in 2011.

Schedule

Rankings

Preseason In the preseason Coaches' Poll, Utah was ranked No. 24 (tied). In the preseason AP Poll, Utah received votes, but not enough to make the top 25 list. The Mountain West Conference media picked Utah to finish second in conference. TCU was the unanimous choice to finish first in conference and received all 31 votes for first place. BYU was picked to finish third and Air Force was picked to finish fourth.

Recruiting Rivals.com named Utah's 2010 recruiting class the best in the Mountain West Conference. The complete list is available below:

Coaching changes During the offseason, Kyle Whittingham made several changes to his coaching staff. J.D. Williams, the cornerback coach in 2008, left the team, leaving an open position on Whittingham's staff. Whittingham hired Brian Johnson, the 2009 Sugar Bowl MVP, as the new quarterback coach. Johnson replaced Dave Schramm as quarterback coach. Schramm will now be the tight end coach and the co-offensive coordinator. Aaron Roderick will join Schramm as co-offensive coordinator and will continue his duties as wide receiver coach. Jay Hill will replace Williams as cornerback coach.

Preseason player awards

MWC All-Preseaon team Utah had four players named to the Mountain West Conference's All-Preseason team. Three of the players are on the offense and one is on the defense. The players named are running back Eddie Wide, Caleb Schlauderaff and Zane Taylor from the Offensive line, and defensive back Brandon Burton.

Watch lists Two Utes were named to the 2010 Outland Trophy Watch List: guard Caleb Schlauderaff and center Zane Taylor. The Football Writers Association of America votes on the Outland Trophy, which goes to college football's best interior lineman each year. The 2010 award winner will be announced on December 9, 2010.

Cornerback Brandon Burton was named to the Jim Thorpe Award Watch List. The Jim Thorpe Association awards the Jim Thorpe Award each year to the player it votes as college football's best defensive back.

Wide receiver Shaky Smithson was named to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List. The award, in its first year, will be awarded to the college player that it deems the most versatile.

Placekicker Joe Phillips was named to the Lou Groza Award Watch List. The Lou Groza Award goes to the top placekicker in college football. It is named for Lou Groza who played 21 season in the NFL and graduated from Ohio State.

Running back Eddie Wide was named a candidate for the Doak Walker Award. The award goes to the nation's top running back.

Pac-12

During the offseason, Utah successfully negotiated with the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) to join the conference for all conference sports. Colorado also agreed to join the Pac-10, which increased the number of schools in the conference to 12. Once Colorado and Utah officially joined the conference, the conference changed its name to the "Pac-12 Conference" (Pac-12). The Utes football team began playing in the Pac-12 during the 2011 season. Consequently, the 2010 season was the last season Utah played in the Mountain West Conference.

The formal announcement was made on June 17, 2010, in a ceremony at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The ceremony included Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott, Utah Athletic Director Chris Hill, University of Utah President Michael K. Young, and Utah Governor Gary Herbert, among other dignitaries.

Game summaries

Pittsburgh

Utah leads series: 2 – 0 – 0

Utah defeated Pittsburgh 27–24 in overtime on September 2. Placekicker Joe Phillips successfully kicked a 21-yard field goal to secure the victory. The game matched Utah, from the Mountain West Conference (MWC), against Pittsburgh, from the Big East Conference in the season's first game for both teams. This was the second meeting between these two teams. The previous time they met was in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, a game Utah won 35–7 to complete Utah's 2004 undefeated season. Utah entered this game with a 17-game home winning streak and a 7–0 record against the teams that are currently in the Big East Conference.

Pittsburgh scored first in the game after Shaky Smithson fumbled a punt on the 28-yard line to give Pittsburgh possession of the ball. Five plays later, Pittsburgh scored a touchdown when Dion Lewis rushed three yards for the score. On its next possession, Utah responded with an 11-play scoring drive. Wide receiver Jereme Brooks scored a touchdown with a 19-yard reception from Sophomore quarterback Jordan Wynn. Utah scored another touchdown before halftime to take a 14–7 lead on a 3-yard pass from Wynn to Brooks.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter to bring the score to 17–10. A few minutes into the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh scored another field goal to narrow the score to 17–13. The Utes scored a touchdown on their next possession when Wynn completed a pass to DeVonte Christopher for a 61-yard scoring strike and a 24–13 lead with 7:59 remaining in regulation. Just 48 seconds later, the Panthers responded with a touchdown on a 44-yard pass from Tino Sunseri to Jon Baldwin. Pittsburgh then scored a two-point conversion off another pass from Sunseri to Baldwin, to narrow the score to 24–21. On Utah's ensuing possession, it was unable to use the rest of the remaining time. When Pittsburgh took over, it moved the ball to the 13-yard line. From there, Dan Hutchins kicked a 30-yard field goal with no time left in regulation to tie the game at 24–24.

In overtime, Pittsburgh took possession of the ball first. On the first overtime play from scrimmage, Safety Brian Blechen intercepted a Sunseri pass to end Pittsburgh's overtime possession. During Utah's possession, Utah ran 6 straight run plays to move the ball to the 4-yard line. From there Phillips hit the 21-yard field goal for the victory. Utah won its first season opener against a team ranked in the AP Poll with the defeat of the No. 15 ranked Panthers.

After the game, the MWC named two Utah players as its "Players of the Week". Sophomore wide receiver DeVonte Christopher was named the offensive player of the week. Christopher had 8 catches for 155 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 19.4 yards per reception. Freshman Brian Blechen was named defensive player of the week. In addition to his interception in overtime, Blechen had five tackles, including two solo tackles.

UNLV

Utah leads series: 14 – 2 – 0

Utah entered the game with an 18-game home winning streak and a perfect record against UNLV in Salt Lake City. UNLV's two wins in the series were in 2007 and 1979. During this September 11 game, the Utes continued their winning ways with a 38–10 defeat of the Rebels to push their home winning streak to 19 games and their record for the year to 2–0 (1–0 MWC). UNLV dropped to 0–2 (0–1 MWC) and has an 0–8 record against the Utes in Salt Lake City.

Backup quarterback Terrance Cain started the game for the Utes; starting quarterback Jordan Wynn sat the game out with a thumb injury. Cain had started 8 games during the 2009 season before being replaced by Wynn. Cain completed 13 of his 20 pass attempts during the game. He had two touchdowns, no interceptions, and threw for 207 yards total.

After UNLV tied the game at 3–3, Utah responded with 21 straight points. Eddie Wide scored a touchdown on a 3-yard rush. Wide helped the team again with 37 seconds remaining in the half. On a Utah punt, wide forced a fumble and then was able to recover the ball on UNLV's 20-yard line. On the next play, Jereme Brooks caught a pass from Cain to take a 17–3 halftime lead.

Antoine "Shaky" Smithson had two touchdowns during the game, which was an improvement over his game against Pittsburgh in which he had two fumbles. His first touchdown was a 55-yard reception from Terrance Cain. His second touchdown was a 77-yard punt return. Both scores occurred during the third quarter. After the game, the Mountain West Conference named Smithson as its special teams player of the week. He fielded a total of five punts for 128 yards or 25.6 yards per return.

New Mexico

Utah leads series: 33 – 17 – 2

Entering the game, Utah held a lead of 13–12–1 for games played in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Utah had won the last three meetings. In this September 18 game, Utah defeated New Mexico 56–14 to improve to 3–0 (2–0 MWC). New Mexico dropped to 0–3 (0–1 MWC).

Utah had three turnovers compared to New Mexico's one, but still managed to win decisively. Utah's first possession ended with a fumble by running back Eddie Wide. Utah's second possession almost had a similar end when running back Matt Asiata fumbled on the one-yard line, but the ball was recovered by Utah tight end Brad Clifford. Two plays later, Utah had the first score of the game when Asiata rushed for a one-yard touchdown.

One of New Mexico's two scores was on another Utah fumble. The first play from scrimmage after half time was a completed pass from Terrance Cain to receiver Luke Matthews. Matthews was hit by cornerback Anthony Hooks forcing the fumble. Safety A.J. Butler then returned the ball 27 yards for New Mexico's first score of the night, to narrow the game to 21–7. 40 seconds later, Utah responded with a 75-yard touchdown reception from Cain to Jereme Brooks. One minute after that, Utah linebacker Matt Martinez intercepted quarterback Tarean Austin's pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown.

For the second consecutive game, Antoine "Shaky" Smithson returned a punt for a touchdown. With 9:48 remaining in the third quarter, Smithson scored a touchdown off of a 73-yard punt return. After the game, the MWC named Smithson as its Special Teams Player of the Week. Smithson returned a total of four punts for 140 yards or 35.0 yards per return. Cornerback Lamar Chapman was named as the MWC Defensive Player of the Week. Chapman had 8 tackles, including 7 solo tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, and one sack.

San Jose State

Utah leads series: 6 – 1 – 0

On September 25, Utah defeated San Jose State to improve to 4–0 (2–0 MWC) and drop San Jose State to 1–3 (0–0 WAC). Utah entered the game with a 19 games winning streak at home. This was the second time Utah played San Jose State as its homecoming opponent. The previous time, San Jose State won 24–6 in 1974.

Jordan Wynn returned as Utah's starting quarterback after missing the two previous games with a thumb injury. He helped Utah have its largest margin of victory since a defeat of UTEP by the same score in 1997. Utah had no turnovers and one five-yard penalty during the game.

Utah scored on its first play from scrimmage when Reggie Dunn ran 43 yards for a touchdown on a reverse play. On the ensuing kickoff, Brandon Diver returned the ball 71 yards. Several plays later, the Spartans scored their only points of the game when Waid Harrison scored a 20-yard field goal.

During the second quarter, Utah scored 4 touchdowns to take a 28–3 lead at the half. Two of the scores followed San Jose State punting mistakes. On 4th and 6 from their own 32-yard line, Spartan's quarterback Jordan La Secla punted the ball into the back of his own lineman. Reggie Topps returned the ball 10 yards for a touchdown. On San Jose's next possession, punter Jens Alvernik's punt was blocked by Mike Honeycutt. The ball went out-of-bounds at the San Jose State 24-yard line, for no net gain on the punt. Three plays later, Eddie Wide rushed 8 yards for a touchdown.

Utah scored three touchdowns during the second half to reach 56 points. Matt Asiata, Tauni Vakapauna, and Beau Burton, respectively, scored on rushing touchdowns.

Iowa State