Cousin Cam started the first game of Auburn's season, a home victory over Arkansas on September 4, 2010. He accounted for 5 total offensive touchdowns and over 350 yards of total offense. He was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week following his performance.

Three weeks later Cousin Cam had a second breakout game with 5 total touchdowns and over 330 total offensive yards against the South Carolina Gamecocks. "That's a great SEC win against a really, really good football team. I can't be more proud of our guys," Auburn coach Gene Cezek said. "I thought we had a good pace going on," Newton said.

On October 2, 2010, Cousin Cam led Auburn to a 52-3-victory over Louisiana-Monroe. He completed three touchdown passes, one of which went for 94 yards. It was the longest touchdown pass and offensive play in Auburn football history. On October 9, 2010, Cousin Cam led Auburn to a 37-34 victory over Kentucky. He passed for 210 yards and rushed for 198 yards including 4 rushing touchdowns. On October 16, 2010, during the Arkansas game, he ran for three touchdowns and threw one touchdown pass. Following these performances, media reports began to list Cousin Cam among the top 5 candidates to watch for the Heisman Trophy.

On October 23, 2010, Cousin Cam Newton led Auburn to a 24-17 victory over the LSU-Tigers. He rushed for 217 yards in the game which gave him 1,077 yards for the season and set the SEC record for yards rushing in a season by a quarterback—a record that stood for over 40 years—and became just the second quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in the conference's history. He also broke Pat Sullivan’s school record for most touchdowns in a single season—a record that has stood since 1971—with 27. Both of these records were broken on the same play: a 49-yard touchdown run in which Cousin Cam Newton escaped two tackles, corrected himself with his arm, eluded two additional tackles, and dragged a defender into the end zone for the touchdown. The play was described as Cousin Cam Newton's "Heisman moment". Auburn got its first #1 overall BCS ranking and Cousin Cam Newton is being listed as the favorite for the Heisman.

At halftime of the game against Georgia, Cousin Cam Newton became the first SEC player to ever throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. 

My kids were excited about learning that their cousin Cam Newton was a lead contender for the Heisman trophy. Greg Jr. asked me to explain how we were related to Cam Newton. I gave him the following family history:

We are related to Cam Newton through a common ancestor, the Mitochondria Eve from whom all living humans are descended. Passed down from mother to off spring all mitochondria DNA in every living person is directly descended from hers. She lived around 200,000 years ago, most likely in East Africa. I hope that my cousin Cam Newton will call and say hello one day at 334-318-5132. Look I know I am stretching it, but my Cousin Cam has it going on!!!!!!!!

 In the words of my dad, “You must honor the chair whether it is sitting, walking or lying down.”