BYU Football: An Early Look at the 2010 Schedule

9/4/2010 - Washington (5-7)

9/18/2010 - At Florida State (6-6)

9/25/2010 - Nevada (8-5)

10/2/2010 - At Utah State (4-8)

They have yet to release the dates for their conference schedule, but they will play the same teams they did last year, just switching the home and away games.

At Colorado State (3-9)

UNLV (5-7)

San Diego State (4-8)

At TCU (12-0)

Wyoming (7-6)

New Mexico (1-11)

At Air Force (7-5)

At Utah (10-3)

BYU had a great year this year, finishing 11-2, with great victories over Oklahoma, Utah, and Oregon State.

But in their two losses, they got blown out at home by Florida State and TCU. This next year they play both of these teams on the road.

BYU has to replace seven starters on defense next year and they lose several key offensive starters, most notably Max Hall and Dennis Pitta.

But with Riley Nelson and Jake Heaps (No. 1 QB recruit) waiting in the wings, BYU should be in good hands at the QB position.

They also return four out of five offensive lineman, and both starting wideouts.

Unless Unga opts not to return for his senior season, it would not be out of the question for BYU to become a 60-40 run-pass ratio team. Especially if Riley is at the helm—Riley may be BYU's best dual-threat QB since Steve Young.

Having a new QB, along with four of five offensive lineman and Harvey Unga (the all-time leading rusher in BYU history) returning, it might make sense to run the ball—a lot.

But with Heaps coming in, Robert Anae (BYU OC) might be able to get similar production from the QB position that he got from Hall.

On defense, the secondary will be BYU's strength, they return three of four starters. But they have a lot to replace in the front seven—six of seven players will be new. Still, BYU has good players waiting in the wings, and they should be solid.

With three very tough road games, it will be extremely tough for BYU to surpass what they've done this year, yet that's to be expected.

A 9-3 finish is very doable, would be a solid season and a great continuation of the success Bronco has had. Anything better than that would be icing on the cake.

Eventually, BYU needs/wants to break though and make a BCS bowl. And I think it will happen eventually. Especially if Heaps is as good as we all think he could be. It could even be 2010, but I won't count on it.