The 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on September 2, 2010, and ended on December 11, 2010. The postseason concluded on January 10, 2011, with the BCS National Championship Game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Auburn Tigers defeated the Oregon Ducks to complete an undefeated season and win their sixth national title in school history.

Rule changes

Conference realignment

Multiple conferences announced changes in membership throughout 2010, triggering a major realignment that would eventually affect all 11 FBS leagues. Due to conference notice requirements, these changes would not take effect until 2011 at the earliest. The first change came on June 10, when the Pacific-10 Conference announced that Colorado had accepted their invitation to join from the Big 12. The following day, June 11, saw two schools change conferences. The Mountain West Conference announced that Boise State had accepted their invitation to join from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), while Nebraska ended its longstanding affiliation with the Big Eight/Big 12 to join the Big Ten Conference. Both moves would take effect starting with the 2011–2012 academic year. 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 for the Pac-10 to create a 16-team "superconference." However, a last-minute deal announced on June 14 saw Texas remain in the Big 12, prompting the other four schools to follow suit. The Pac-10 then extended an invitation to Utah on June 16, who accepted the next day. With the addition of Colorado and Utah, the Pac-10 announced that the conference would change its name to the Pac-12 upon the two new members joining in July 2011. On August 18, the Mountain West responded to rumors of the imminent departure of Brigham Young by inviting WAC members Fresno State, Nevada, and Utah State. Utah State declined the offer, but Fresno State and Nevada accepted later that day. Following threats of legal action by the WAC, the two schools agreed to stay in the WAC through the 2011–12 season in exchange for a greatly reduced exit fee. BYU officially announced their departure from the Mountain West on September 1. The BYU football team would become an FBS Independent while all other sports would move West Coast Conference for the 2011–12 season. On November 11, the Western Athletic Conference announced that Texas State, then a member of the FCS Southland Conference, and UTSA, which planned to launch a football team 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, TCU announced it would leave the Mountain West to join the Big East in 2012. The Mountain West replaced TCU by adding Hawaii as a football-only member on December 10; Hawaii's other sports would join the Big West Conference.

New and updated stadiums

No new stadiums opened in the 2010 season. However, expansion projects at several stadiums were completed in time for the season:

Season notes

Regular season top 10 matchups

Rankings reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 8 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.

Conference standings

Conference summaries

Rankings reflect the Week 14 AP Poll before the conference championship games were played.

Conference championship games

Other conference champions

• Received conference's automatic BCS bowl bid. In 2011, Ohio State vacated all twelve wins and their share of the Big Ten title from the 2010 season after it was revealed that several players had committed NCAA violations by receiving improper benefits from a local business owner.

Final BCS rankings

Bowl games

Awards and honors

Heisman Trophy voting

The Heisman Trophy is given to the year's most outstanding player Source:

Other award winners

Overall

Niche

Offense

Quarterback Running Back Wide Receiver Tight End Lineman

Defense

Defensive Line Linebacker Defensive Back

Special teams

Coaches

Assistant

All-Americans

Records

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:

TV ratings

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

Notes and references