Mountain West Conference releases 2010 football schedule

The Mountain West Conference office released the complete 2010 football schedule today and for the second straight year, Utah kicks off the MWC season. The Utes will play Pittsburgh on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The rest of the league gets underway on Sept. 4, which is when BYU will play host to Washington.

Both Utah and BYU already knew their out-of-conference schedules, so the big news today was when their MWC games would be played. Both the Utes and Cougars have balanced schedules with no back-to-back home or road games in MWC play.

The Utes will play UNLV on Sept. 11, followed by a road game at New Mexico on Sept. 18. Then, after non-league games against San Jose State on Sept. 25 and Iowa State on Oct. 9, the Utes play at Wyoming on Oct. 16, Colorado State at home on Oct. 23, at Air Force on Oct. 30 and TCU at home on Nov. 6. Then, after the game at Notre Dame on Nov. 13, Utah concludes with games at San Diego State on Nov. 20 and at home against BYU on Nov. 27. The Utes have a bye on Oct. 2.

BYU will open its conference schedule on Sept. 11 at Air Force, then play at Florida State on Sept. 18, at home against Nevada on Sept. 25, before concluding their non-league schedule at Utah State on Friday, Oct. 1.

The Cougars' remaining games are MWC games, with San Diego State at home on Oct. 9, TCU on the road Oct. 16, Wyoming at home on Oct. 23 with a bye on Oct. 30. The November schedule includes games against UNLV at home on Nov. 6, at Colorado State on Nov. 13, against New Mexico at home on Nov. 20, and finally at Utah the following week.

Only a handful of MWC games will not be played on Saturday. Besides Utah's opener against Pitt and BYU's game at USU, other non-Saturday contests include TCU at SMU on Friday, Sept. 24 and Air Force at UNLV on Thursday, Nov. 18.

Among the big non-league games besides Utah and BYU games are TCU vs. Oregon State in Dallas and Wisconsin at UNLV on Sept. 4, Texas Tech at New Mexico and Wyoming at Texas on Sept. 11, Air Force at Oklahoma and San Diego State at Missouri on Sept. 18 and UNLV at West Virginia on Oct. 9.

2010 BYU football schedule

Date Opponent Time TV

Sept. 4 vs. Washington 5 p.m. CBS C-HD

Sept. 11 at Air Force 2 p.m. Versus HD

Sept. 18 at Florida State TBD TBD

Sept. 25 vs. Nevada TBD TBD

Oct. 1 at Utah State TBD ESPN HD or ESPN2 HD