The 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The regular season began on August 30, 2012, and ended on December 8, 2012. The postseason concluded on January 7, 2013, with the BCS National Championship Game, where Alabama repeated as national champions by defeating Notre Dame.
Although Ohio State finished the regular season as the only undefeated team from an automatic-qualifying ("Power 5") BCS conference, they were ineligible to play in the postseason due to sanctions imposed earlier in the year.
Rule changes The NCAA Rules Committee approved the following rule changes for the 2012 season, mostly for safety reasons: Kickoffs will be moved up to the 35-yard line from the 30, mirroring a similar change by the NFL in the 2011 season and rescinding a rule change made in the 2007 season. The kicking team will only have a five-yard running head start on kickoffs, again mirroring the NFL changes in 2011. Touchbacks will move from the 20-yard line to the 25-yard line only on kickoffs and free kicks after a safety. Touchbacks on punts rolling into the end zone, fumbles into the end zone, and interceptions in the end zone will remain at the 20-yard line. Players will be forbidden to leap over other players when blocking punts. Players who lose their helmets during a play (except when caused by fouls such as grabbing the facemask) will have to leave the field for one play. When a helmet is lost during play by the ball carrier, the play is dead immediately. Any action made by or against a helmetless player is penalized as a personal foul for 15 yards. Offensive players in the tackle box at the snap who are not in motion are allowed to block below the waist legally without restriction. All other players are restricted from blocking below the waist with some exceptions (i.e., blocking straight-on), modifying a rule change from the 2011 season.
Conference realignment
Membership changes The following list includes schools transitioning from FCS to FBS.
SchoolFormer conferenceNew conference Fresno State WAC Mountain West Hawaii WAC Mountain West Massachusetts CAA (FCS) MAC Missouri Big 12 SEC Nevada WAC Mountain West South Alabama FCS Independent Sun Belt TCU Mountain West Big 12 Temple MAC Big East Texas A&M Big 12 SEC Texas State Southland (FCS) WAC UTSA FCS Independent WAC West Virginia Big East Big 12
On March 7, Temple was admitted back into the Big East Conference after having been expelled from it a decade earlier for failing to maintain a competitive football program. Temple joined from the Mid-American Conference, where it had competed since 2007.
Teams transitioning to FBS On April 9, 2012, Georgia State University, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, announced that it would rejoin the Sun Belt Conference effective in July 2013. Georgia State had been a charter Sun Belt member when the conference formed in 1976, but left in 1981. The Panthers began their FBS transition during the 2012 season and started playing a full Sun Belt schedule upon joining the conference in 2013. Full FBS membership, along with bowl eligibility, followed in 2014. The Panthers, who had been coached by Bill Curry since starting a football program in 2010, played home games at the Georgia Dome near the school's campus in downtown Atlanta. The Panthers remained at the Georgia Dome until its closure and demolition after the 2016 season; they have since taken over the venue formerly known as Centennial Olympic Stadium and Turner Field and converted it into the football-specific venue originally known as Georgia State Stadium and now as Center Parc Stadium.
Georgia State followed four other schools that were in the second and final years of FBS transitions— UMass, South Alabama, Texas State, and UTSA.
Future changes The conference realignment period that began in 2010 continued for a third consecutive off-season.
The Mountain West Conference continued to raid the rapidly-collapsing Western Athletic Conference by adding San Jose State and Utah State on May 4. The additions allowed the Mountain West, which was anticipating the looming departures of Boise State and San Diego State to the Big East, to keep its football membership at ten teams for the 2013 season.
On September 12, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) announced the addition of Notre Dame in all sports except football. Under the agreement, Notre Dame's football team would play five games against ACC opponents per season but remain classified an FBS independent, while its other sports would be fully integrated into the ACC. The arrangement is effectively a stronger version of the affiliation Notre Dame had had with the Big East since 1995.
The Big Ten Conference, having already added Nebraska in 2011, admitted two more schools to expand the conference's geographic footprint to the East Coast. Maryland, coming from the ACC, was announced as the 13th member on November 19, followed by Rutgers of the Big East as the 14th member on November 21. Both moves would take effect during the 2014–15 academic year.
To keep its football membership at an even number, the ACC added Louisville on November 28 as a replacement for departing Maryland.
Updated stadiums
Expanded stadiums Boise State moved their track and field program out of Bronco Stadium, allowing for the expansion of end zone bleachers over the existing track. The new permanent additions increased capacity from 33,500 to 37,000. Nebraska continued its expansion of Memorial Stadium that would push its capacity beyond 90,000. TCU completed a major renovation of Amon G. Carter Stadium. Seating capacity increased only by about 600 seats to 45,000. Texas State nearly doubled the size of Bobcat Stadium as part of its FBS transition. The venue, which formerly contained about 16,000 seats, now holds 30,000.
Renovated stadiums California returned to California Memorial Stadium following major renovations, which included a full seismic retrofit, as the stadium is located directly on a major fault. The stadium's capacity was reduced from 71,800 to 62,700. The Golden Bears played their 2011 home schedule at AT&T Park in San Francisco, and also played what was officially a neutral-site game against Fresno State at Candlestick Park, also in San Francisco. Clemson renovated the video systems at Clemson Memorial Stadium prior to the start of the 2012 season. A new Jumbotron was installed on the primary scoreboard behind the East endzone, while two smaller video boards were installed on each side of the WestZone stands. In addition, video ribbons were installed along the facings of the upper decks. Michigan State completed a complete overhaul of their sound and video system with the addition of two video boards in the north end zone, a video ribbon along the entire north edge and installation of the fourth largest scoreboard in the NCAA in the south end zone.
Temporary stadiums Due to major renovations at Husky Stadium, Washington played its entire 2012 home schedule at nearby CenturyLink Field, home to the Seattle Seahawks (NFL) and Seattle Sounders FC (MLS). Due to renovations at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium, Massachusetts played its entire 2012 home schedule at Gillette Stadium, home to the New England Patriots (NFL) and New England Revolution (MLS). The school is also contractually obligated to play all of its 2013 home schedule, plus at least four home games in each season from 2014 to 2016, at Gillette, which is approximately a 2-hour drive from the UMass campus.
Regular season top 10 matchups Rankings reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 8 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted. Week 1 No. 2 Alabama defeated No. 8 Michigan, 41–14 (Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas) Week 4 No. 4 Florida State defeated No. 10 Clemson, 49–37 (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida) Week 6 No. 6 South Carolina defeated No. 5 Georgia, 35–7 (Williams–Brice Stadium, Columbia, South Carolina) No. 10 Florida defeated No. 4 LSU, 14–6 (Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida) Week 7 No. 9 LSU defeated No. 3 South Carolina, 23–21 (Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana) Week 8 No. 2/3 Florida defeated No. 7/9 South Carolina, 44–11 (Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida) Week 9 No. 5/5 Notre Dame defeated No. 8/8 Oklahoma, 30–13 (Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma) No. 10/12 Georgia defeated No. 2/3 Florida, 17–9 (EverBank Field, Jacksonville, Florida) Week 10 No. 1/1 Alabama defeated No. 5/5 LSU, 21–17 (Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana) Week 13 No. 4/6 Florida defeated No. 10/10 Florida State, 37–26 (Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, Florida) Week 14 No. 2/2 Alabama defeated No. 3/3 Georgia, 32–28 (2012 SEC Championship Game, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia)
Conference standings
FCS team wins over FBS teams Italics denotes FCS teams.
Conference summaries Rankings reflect the Week 14 AP Poll before the games were played.
Conference championship games Conference Champion Runner-UpScoreOffensive Player of the YearDefensive Player of the YearCoach of the Year ACC No. 13 Florida State Georgia Tech 21–15 Tajh Boyd, Clemson Björn Werner, Florida State David Cutcliffe, Duke Big Ten Wisconsin No. 14 Nebraska 70–31 Braxton Miller, Ohio State John Simon, Ohio State Bill O'Brien, Penn State C-USA Tulsa UCF 33–27 Rakeem Cato, Marshall (MVP) &Zach Line, SMUKemal Ishmael, UCF Bill Blankenship, Tulsa MAC No. 19 Northern Illinois No. 18 Kent State 44–37 Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois Chris Jones, Bowling Green Darrell Hazell, Kent State Pac-12 No. 8 Stanford No. 17 UCLA 27–24 Marqise Lee, USC Will Sutton, Arizona State David Shaw, Stanford SEC No. 2 Alabama No. 3 Georgia 32–28 Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M Jarvis Jones, Georgia (AP) & Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina (coaches) Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M (AP and coaches) & Will Muschamp, Florida (coaches)
Other conference champions ConferenceChampion(s)RecordOffensive Player of the YearDefensive Player of the YearCoach of the Year Big 12 No. 7 Kansas State*No. 12 Oklahoma 11–1 (8–1)10–2 (8–1) Collin Klein, Kansas State Arthur Brown, Kansas State Bill Snyder, Kansas State Big EastCincinnati Louisville*RutgersSyracuse 9–3 (5–2) 10–2 (5–2)9–3 (5–2)7–5 (5–2) Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville Khaseem Greene, Rutgers Charlie Strong, Louisville &Kyle Flood, Rutgers MWC No. 25 Boise StateFresno StateSan Diego State 10–2 (7–1)9–3 (7–1)9–3 (7–1) Derek Carr, Fresno State Phillip Thomas, Fresno State Rocky Long, San Diego State Sun Belt Arkansas State 9–3 (7–1) Kolton Browning, Louisiana-Monroe Quanterus Smith, Western Kentucky Todd Berry, Louisiana-Monroe WAC No. 20 Utah State 10–2 (6–0) Colby Cameron, Louisiana Tech Travis Johnson, San Jose State Gary Andersen, Utah State * Received conference's automatic BCS bowl bid.
Final BCS rankings BCS School Record Bowl Game 1 Notre Dame 12–0 BCS Championship 2 Alabama 12–1 BCS Championship 3 Florida 11–1 Sugar 4 Oregon 11–1 Fiesta 5 Kansas State 11–1 Fiesta 6 Stanford 11–2 Rose 7 Georgia 11–2 Capital One 8 LSU 10–2 Chick-fil-A 9 Texas A&M 10–2 Cotton 10 South Carolina 10–2 Outback 11 Oklahoma 10–2 Cotton 12 Florida State 11–2 Orange 13 Oregon State 9–3 Alamo 14 Clemson 10–2 Chick-fil-A 15 Northern Illinois 12–1 Orange 16 Nebraska 10–3 Capital One 17 UCLA 9–4 Holiday 18 Michigan 8–4 Outback 19 Boise State 10–2 Maaco Las Vegas 20 Northwestern 9–3 Gator 21 Louisville 10–2 Sugar 22 Utah State 10–2 Famous Idaho Potato 23 Texas 8–4 Alamo 24 San Jose State 10–2 Military 25 Kent State 11–2 GoDaddy.com
Despite not being in the BCS rankings, Wisconsin (8–5) played in the Rose Bowl by virtue of being the Big Ten Champion.
Bowl games
Bowl Championship Series