Coaching changes

Three teams have new head coaches for the 2010 season. Charlie Strong replaces Steve Kragthorpe at Louisville, Butch Jones replaces Brian Kelly at Cincinnati, and Skip Holtz replaces Jim Leavitt at South Florida.

Preseason poll

The 2010 Big East preseason poll was announced at the Big East Media Day in Newport, RI on August 3.^[1] Pittsburgh was chosen as the favorite to win the conference.

Award watch lists

The following Big East players listed below have been named to the preseason award watch lists.

Week One

Players of the week:^[15]

Week Two

Players of the week:^[16]

Week Three

Week off: Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida

Players of the week:^[17]

Week Four

Week off: Louisville

Players of the week:^[18]

Week Five

Week off: Cincinnati, Syracuse, West Virginia

Players of the week:^[19]

Week Six

Players of the week:

Week Seven

Week off: Connecticut

Players of the week:

Week Eight

Players of the week:

Week Nine

Week off: Rutgers, South Florida

Players of the week:

Week Ten

Week off: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, West Virginia

Players of the week:

Week Eleven

Players of the week:^[20]

Week Twelve

Players of the week:^[21]

Week Thirteen

Players of the week:

Week Fourteen

Last week's results set up a wild final week in the Big East, with three teams—UConn, WVU, and Pitt—still in contention for the league's BCS berth, and a possibility that as many as five teams (the three aforementioned teams plus South Florida and Syracuse) could claim a share of the conference title. The conference noted in a November 29 press release, "There could be an outright winner, three different two-way ties, a three-way tie, or even a five-way tie for the title."^[22]

Under Big East rules, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head results. In a multi-team tie, the first tiebreaker is record in games between the teams involved in the tie.

Going into the final games, the scenarios were:

• If UConn defeated South Florida, it would claim the BCS berth regardless of any other results. The Huskies held the tiebreaker in any potential two-way or three-way tie with wins over both Pitt and WVU.
• If the Huskies lost, WVU would claim the BCS berth with a win over Rutgers, as the Mountaineers held the tiebreaker over Pitt due to their win last week.
• Pitt could only claim the BCS berth with a win over Cincinnati plus losses by UConn and WVU.
• If all three teams lost, it would have created a five-way tie for the conference crown between them, USF, and Syracuse. In that event, UConn would have claimed the BCS berth as the only team with a 3–1 record in games between the five teams.

With Pitt and WVU both winning, they assured themselves a share of the Big East title. The BCS berth came down to the UConn-South Florida game, which itself went down to the final minute. Dave Teggart's 52-yard field goal, the longest of his career, with 17 seconds remaining gave the Huskies their first-ever BCS berth.

Week off: Louisville, Syracuse

Players of the week:^[23]

Big East Conference Awards

The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the Big East Conference football coaches.^[24]

Todman, who became the second Connecticut running back to win the award in three years, was the unanimous choice for Offensive Player of the Year. He was the first unanimous winner of the award since Gino Torretta in 1992.^[25] Sheard marked the third consecutive year, and fourth time in five years, that a Pittsburgh player has won the defensive player award.