The 2010 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

 in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season

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 concluded with the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game on Monday, January 10, 2011.-Rule changes for...

. The Cougars, led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall

Bronco Mendenhall

-Personal life:Mendenhall has three children: Raeder-Steel, Breaker, and Cutter. Mendenhall is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.-External links:**- References :...

, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium

LaVell Edwards Stadium

LaVell Edwards Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Provo, Utah, on the campus of Brigham Young University. Primarily used for college football, it is the home field of the BYU Cougars....

 and were members of the Mountain West Conference

Mountain West Conference

The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

. They finished the season 7–6, 5–3 in Mountain West play and were invited to the New Mexico Bowl

2010 New Mexico Bowl

The 2010 New Mexico Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 18, 2010 at University Stadium on the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of the 2010-11 NCAA Bowl season....

 where they defeated UTEP

2010 UTEP Miners football team

The 2010 UTEP Miners football team represented the University of Texas at El Paso in the college football season of 2010-2011. The team's head football coach was Mike Price, who was coaching in his 7th season. The Miners played their home games at the Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas and were...

 52–24.

2010 was BYU's final season as a member of the Mountain West as started competing as an Independent in football beginning in 2011 with all other sports joining the West Coast Conference

West Coast Conference

The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....

.

Recruiting

In the preseason, the Cougars had many talented prospects come in. No.1 rated QB by rivals.com, Jake Heaps

Jake Heaps

Jake Heaps is an American football quarterback. After leading his highschool team to 3 Washington 4A state titles at Skyline High School Jake was rated as the number 1 quarterback prospect in the country by several recruiting services. Heaps chose to play for Brigham Young University...

, joined the team, along with three players from The Oakridge School

The Oakridge School

The Oakridge School is a private school located in Arlington, Texas, USA .It educates about 880 students in age groups Pre-K-12.-History:The Oakridge School is a coeducational, college preparatory school. The 2009–2010 enrollment totals 875 students in preschool through grade 12...

, Ross Apo, Tayo Fabuluje, and Teu Kautai

Media Poll

At the Mountain West media days on July 27, BYU was picked by 31 voters to finish 3rd in the conference behind TCU and Utah. Offensive linemen Matt Reynolds and free safety Andrew Rich were both named to the pre-season all-conference team.

Conference Re-alignment

The Cougars weren't directly affected by conference expansion in June, but will lose conference rival (effective Fall 2011) Utah to the newly-formed Pac-12. Before Utah was invited to the older Pac-10 conference, Boise State agreed to leave the WAC and join the MWC in 2011. Rumors began circulating afterward about whether the BYU-Utah rivalry would survive the transition. On August 31, the BYU Athletic Department issued a press release that BYU would leave the Mountain West Conference next year, go independent in football beginning with the 2011 season and join the West Coast Conference

West Coast Conference

The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....

 for all other sports.

Schedule

Season

Defensive Coordinator, Jaime Hill was fired the day after BYU lost to Utah State, BYU's fourth loss of the season after only playing five games. BYU had not started the season with a 1-4 record since 1973. After the firing of Hill, linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 coach Nick Howell was moved to coach the secondary and Kelly Poppinga

Kelly Poppinga

Kelly Scott Poppinga is an American football linebackers coach for the Brigham Young University. Poppinga was an American football linebacker. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2008. He played college football at Brigham Young.Poppinga has also been a member of the...

was promoted from graduate assistant to coach the linebackers.

External links

• ESPN.com season wrap-up