The 2010 Mountain West Conference football season was the 12th since eight former members of the Western Athletic Conference banded together to form the MW.

This was the last season for two of the conference's charter members. Utah left the MW to join the Pac-10 in 2011. At the same time, the Utes' historic rival, BYU, will become a football independent and join the West Coast Conference in other sports. In the 2011 season, Boise State joined from the WAC, while three other WAC members, Fresno State, Hawaii and Nevada, have accepted invitations to join the MW in 2012. For more details on these developments, see 2010 NCAA conference realignment.

Rankings

+ Ranking movementLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week.  Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 FinalAir Force AP   (28) (26) (29) 25 23 (37) (33) (35) (35)C   (T52) (29) (33) (29) (27) 23 (33) (39) (40) (33) (33)Harris Not released 23 (31) (39) (39) (36) (37) (37) BCS Not released   BYU AP (34) (33) (38)C (28) 24(37) Harris Not released BCS Not released Colorado State AP   C   Harris Not released   BCS Not released   New Mexico AP   C   Harris Not released   BCS Not released   San Diego State AP   (31) (33) (27) (30) (32) (33) (28)C   (34) (34) (27) (31) (35) (30) (30) (28)Harris Not released   (36) (33) (26) (31) (38) (34) (35) BCS Not released   TCU AP 6 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 2C 7 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 2Harris Not released 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 BCS Not released 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 UNLV AP   C   Harris Not released   BCS Not released   Utah AP (28) 20 14 13 13 10 11 9 8 6 15 25 23 21 20 (26)C 24 20 14 13 12 10 10 9 7 6 15 24 22 21 19 23Harris Not released 10 9 7 6 15 21 20 21 19 BCS Not released 9 8 5 14 23 20 20 19 Wyoming AP   C   Harris Not released   BCS Not released  

Mountain West vs. BCS matchups Date Visitor Home Notes September 2 Pittsburgh 24 Utah 27 Utah won its first season opener against a team ranked in the AP Poll when the Utes defeated the #15 ranked Panthers. September 4^ Colorado State 3 Colorado 24 Rocky Mountain Showdown. Played at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver. September 4 New Mexico 0 Oregon 72 The Lobos surrendered 720 yards of offense, a new record for the Ducks. September 4 Washington 17 BYU 23 September 4^ TCU 30 Oregon State 21 Played at Cowboys Stadium; Andy Dalton got his 30th win as a starter to overtake Sammy Baugh for first place among TCU quarterbacks. September 4 Wisconsin 41 UNLV 21 UNLV fell to 2–9 all time against Big Ten Conference teams. September 11 Wyoming 7 Texas 34Wyoming lost its 12th straight game against teams from the Big 12 Conference, a streak dating back to 1997. September 11 Texas Tech 52 New Mexico 17 September 18 Air Force 24 Oklahoma 27 Air Force gained 458 yards of offense compared to Oklahoma's 367. September 18 BYU 10 Florida State 34 The Seminoles held BYU to 39 yards of offense during the second half. September 18 Baylor 10 TCU 45 Andy Dalton completed his first 11 passes and completed 21 out of 23 for 267 yards and two touchdowns. September 18 San Diego State 24 Missouri 27 T.J. Moe scored on a 68-yard pass from Blaine Gabbert with 51 seconds left to give Missouri a 27–24 win. October 9 UNLV 10 West Virginia 49 West Virginia scored its most points since scoring 66 in 2007 against Connecticut. October 9 Utah 68 Iowa State 27 Seven different Utes scored touchdowns as Utah got its first win against Iowa State November 13 Utah 3 Notre Dame 28 Notre Dame ended an 11-game losing streak against ranked teams when they beat the #15 Utes^Denotes neutral site game

Schedule

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Week five

Week six

Week seven

Week eight

Week nine

Week ten

Week eleven

Week twelve

Week thirteen

Week fourteen

Statistics Team Scoring offense: TCU (520 points, 43.3 average) Scoring defense: TCU (137 points, 11.4 average) Rushing offense: Air Force (317.9 yards per game) Rushing defense: TCU (89.2 yards per game) Pass offense: San Diego State (297.0 yards per game) Total offense: TCU (491.5 yards per game)

Bowl games Mountain West teams finished 4–1 in bowl games in 2011, the best record out of all conferences to win the Bowl Challenge Cup for the second consecutive year.

Bowl GameDateStadiumCityTelevisionTeam MatchupsWinning teamScoreLosing teamScore New Mexico Bowl December 18 University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico ESPN BYU vs. UTEP BYU 52 UTEP 24 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas December 22 Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, Nevada ESPN Utah vs. Boise State Boise State 26 Utah 3 Poinsettia Bowl December 23 Qualcomm Stadium San Diego ESPN San Diego State vs. Navy San Diego State 35 Navy 14 Independence Bowl December 27 Independence Stadium Shreveport, Louisiana ESPN2 Air Force vs. Georgia Tech Air Force 14 Georgia Tech 7 Rose Bowl January 1 Rose Bowl Pasadena, California ESPN TCU vs. Wisconsin TCU 21 Wisconsin 19

Home attendance TeamGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6TotalAverageAir Force 40,236 46,692 47,565 41,547 37,211 27,309 240,560 40,093BYU 63,771 61,471 62,176 60,505 61,283 59,077 368,283 61,380Colorado State 23,925 22,553 30,753 18,266 16,501      — 111,998 22,399New Mexico 25,734 23,940 22,511 16,488 18,017 18,640 125,330 20,888San Diego State 25,290 45,682 28,178 34,689 34,951 22,091 190,881 31,814TCU 37,117 47,493 38,081 40,416 46,096 45,694 254,897 42,483UNLV 31,107 16,961 28,958 16,745 16,111 13,790 123,672 20,612Utah 45,730 45,102 45,099 45,029 46,522 45,272 272,754 45,459Wyoming 20,043 29,014 22,413 20,014 16,252 17,011 124,747 20,791

Awards and honors

All Conference teams

Offensive Player of the Year: Andy Dalton, SR., QB, TCU Defensive Player of the Year: Tank Carder, JR., LB, TCU Special Teams Player of the Year: Jeremy Kerley, SR., KR/PR, TCU Freshman of the Year: Ronnie Hillman, RB, San Diego State Coach of the Year: Brady Hoke, San Diego State

Offense: Pos.NameYr.SchoolNameYr.School First Team Second TeamQBAndy DaltonSR.TCURyan LindleyJR.San Diego StateWRVincent BrownSR.San Diego StateJeremy KerleySR.TCUWRDeMarco SampsonSR.San Diego StateJereme BrooksSR.UtahRBRonnie HillmanFR.San Diego StateAsher ClarkJR.Air ForceRBEd WesleySO.TCUJJ Di LuigiJR.BYUTELucas ReedSO.New MexicoGavin EscobarFR.San Diego StateOLMatt ReynoldsJR.BYUA. J. WallersteinJR.Air ForceOLMarcus CannonSR.TCUChase DardenSR.Air ForceOLJake KirkpatrickSR.TCUPaul MadsenJR.Colorado StateOLCaleb SchlauderaffSR.UtahTrask IosefaSR.San Diego StateOLZane TaylorSR.UtahTony BergstromJR.UtahPKJoe PhillipsSR.UtahAbel PerezJR.San Diego StatePR/KRJeremy KerleySR.TCUShaky SmithsonSR.Utah

Defense: Pos.NameYr.SchoolNameYr.School First Team Second TeamDLVic So'otoSR.BYURick RickettsSR.Air ForceDLGuy MillerSR.Colorado StateCory GrantSR.TCUDLWayne DanielsSR.TCUStansly MapongaFR.TCUDLChristian CoxSR.UtahJosh BiezunsJR.WyomingLBMiles BurrisJR.San Diego StateMychal SissonJR.Colorado StateLBTanner BrockSO.TCUCarmen MessinaSO.New MexicoLBTank CarderJR.TCUChaz WalkerJR.UtahDBReggie RembertSR.Air ForceColin JonesSR.TCUDBAndrew RichSR.BYUJason TeagueSR.TCUDBLeon McFaddenSO.San Diego StateBrandon BurtonJR.UtahDBTejay JohnsonSR.UtahChris ProsinskiSR.WyomingPBrian StahovichJR.San Diego StatePete KontodiakosSO.Colorado State

References