The 2012 Mountain West Conference football season was the 14th season of college football for the Mountain West Conference (MW). In the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the MW had 10 football members: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaiʻi, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, and Wyoming.
This was the second consecutive year in which the Mountain West saw changes in membership. After losing two of its charter members in 2011—BYU (WCC and football independent) and Utah (Pac-12)—the MW lost TCU, members since 2005, to the Big 12 in 2012. The conference reloaded with three new members—full conference members Fresno State and Nevada, and football-only Hawaiʻi.
This was originally intended to be the last season for Boise State and San Diego State in the MW. After the 2012–13 school year, both schools' football programs planned to join the Big East. Both schools also planned to join the Big West, a former conference home of both, for non-football sports. San Diego State, a charter member of the Big West, was set to return to that conference after a 35-year absence; Boise State was set to return after a 12-year absence. However, due to major instability in the Big East, culminating in the mass exodus of the conference's seven basketball-first schools in December 2012, Boise State chose to remain in the MW for 2013 and beyond. San Diego State has since sought to remain in the MW, and as a part of Boise State's agreement to remain in the MW, the conference must offer an invitation to San Diego State to remain in the MW before it can invite any other school.
In addition, San Jose State and Utah State will join the MW in 2013.
Preseason
Award watch lists The following Mountain West players were named to preseason award watch lists.
Maxwell Award:
Chuck Bednarik Award:
John Mackey Award:
Fred Biletnikoff Award:
Bronko Nagurski Trophy:
Outland Trophy:
Jim Thorpe Award:
Lombardi Award:
Rimington Trophy:
Davey O'Brien Award:
Doak Walker Award:
Walter Camp Award:
Lott Trophy:
Lou Groza Award:
Mountain West media days
Media poll
Coaches NOTE: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school MW record Air Force Troy Calhoun 6 34–18 34–18 21–11 Boise State Chris Petersen 7 61–5 61–5 0–0* Colorado State Jim McElwain 1 Fresno State Tim DeRuyter 1 Hawaii Norm Chow 1 Nevada Chris Ault 24 226–103–1 226–103–1 New Mexico Bob Davie 1 San Diego State Rocky Long 2 65–69 0–0 40–34^ UNLV Bobby Hauck 3 82–28 2–11 2–6 Wyoming Dave Christensen 4 10–15 10–15 5–11 *first year as conference member, ^achieved as head coach of New Mexico from 99–08
Rankings
+ Legend Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking Unranked the previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 FinalAir Force APCHarris Not releasedBCS Not releasedBoise State AP 24 RV RV 24 24 RV 24 24 21 19 RV RV RV 25 20 18C 22 25 RV RV RV 25 22 22 18 14 24 22 22 15 15 14Harris Not released 22 23 19 17 23 23 21 17 15BCS Not released 22 21 19 22 20 19 Colorado State APCHarris Not releasedBCS Not released Fresno State AP RV RV RV RV RV RVC RV RV RV RV RVHarris Not released RV RV RV RV RVBCS Not released Hawaii APCHarris Not releasedBCS Not released Nevada APC RV RV RV RVHarris Not released RV RV RVBCS Not released New Mexico APCHarris Not releasedBCS Not releasedSan Diego State AP RV RV RV RV RVC RV RV RV RV RVHarris Not released RV RV RV RV RVBCS Not released UNLV APCHarris Not releasedBCS Not released Wyoming APCHarris Not releasedBCS Not released
Mountain West vs. BCS matchups
Bowl games The Mountain West Conference will have agreements with the following bowls for 2012–13: The MW champion will receive an automatic berth in one of the five BCS bowl games if they are the highest ranked non-automatic qualifying conference champion and either of the following: Ranked in the top 12 of the BCS Rankings. (Utah qualified under this criterion in 2004-05 and 2008–09, and TCU in 2009-10 and 2010–11.) Ranked in the top 16 of the BCS Rankings and its ranking is higher than that of an automatic qualifying conference champion.
Pick Name Location Opposing Conference Opposing Pick 1 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada Pac-12 5 2 Poinsettia Bowl San Diego, California BYU (2012), Army (2013) – 3 Armed Forces Bowl Fort Worth, Texas C-USA (2012), Navy (2013) 3, – 4 New Mexico Bowl Albuquerque, New Mexico Pac-12 7 5 Hawai'i Bowl Honolulu, Hawaii C-USA 2 If Hawai‘i is bowl eligible and not MW champions or selected for a BCS bowl, they will receive a berth in the Hawai‘i Bowl.
Regular season Index to colors and formattingMountain West member wonMountain West member lostMountain West teams in bold
All dates, times, and TV are tentative and subject to change.
The Mountain West has teams in 3 different time zones. Times reflect start time in respective time zone of each team (Mountain—Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Wyoming; Pacific—Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, UNLV; Hawaii-Aleutian—Hawaiʻi). Conference games start times are that of the home team.
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Home attendance TeamStadiumCapacityGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6Game 7TotalAverage% of Capacity Air ForceFalcon Stadium52,48035,28238,56238,92729,72624,27725,213 —191,98731,99860.97% Boise StateBronco Stadium37,00034,17836,86435,74236,01236,08433,545 —212,42535,40495.69% Colorado StateHughes Stadium34,40023,56723,37425,81416,57313,88712,286 —115,50119,25055.96% Fresno StateBulldog Stadium41,03127,66327,51333,89429,42330,75536,240 —185,48830,91575.35% HawaiiAloha Stadium50,00031,44231,41731,63229,47128,35927,865 —180,18630,03160.06% NevadaMackay Stadium29,99322,80419,39924,02522,24222,10430,017 —140,59123,43278.12% New MexicoUniversity Stadium38,63428,45028,27022,13519,85617,83917,290 —133,84022,30757.74% San Diego StateQualcomm Stadium71,29430,79924,82624,10350,58627,13323,87430,266211,58730,22742.40% UNLVSam Boyd Stadium36,80016,01315,25717,01514,05420,56512,83510,717106,45615,20841.33% WyomingWar Memorial Stadium34,00021,68821,72822,62717,85520,05513,374 —117,32719,55557.51%
Awards and honors
All Conference teams
Offensive Player of the Year: Derek Carr, JR., QB, Fresno State Defensive Player of the Year: Phillip Thomas, SR., DB, Fresno State Special Teams Player of the Year: Mike Edwards, JR., KR, Hawai'i Freshman of the Year: Davante Adams, WR, Fresno State Coach of the Year: Rocky Long, San Diego State
Offense: Pos.NameYr.SchoolNameYr.School First Team Second TeamQBDerek CarrJR.Fresno StateCody FajardoSO.NevadaWRDavante AdamsFR.Fresno StateMatt MillerSO.Boise StateWRBrandon WimberlyGR.NevadaChris McNeilSR.WyomingRBRobbie RouseSR.Fresno StateKasey CarrierJR.New MexicoRBStefphon JeffersonJR.NevadaAdam MuemaSO.San Diego StateTEGavin EscobarJR.San Diego StateZach SudfeldGR.NevadaOLMatt ParadisJR.Boise StateJordan EasonSR.Air ForceOLAustin WentworthJR.Fresno StateCharles LenoJR.Boise StateOLNik EmbernateSR.San Diego StateBrenel MyersSR.Boise StateOLJeff NadySR.NevadaChris BarkerSR.NevadaOLNick CarlsonSR.WyomingAlex JohnsonSR.San Diego StatePKNolan KohorstJR.UNLVJared RobertsSO.Colorado StatePR/KRMike EdwardsJR.Hawai'iKhalid WootenSR.Nevada
Defense: Pos.NameYr.SchoolNameYr.School First Team Second TeamDLMike AtkinsonSR.Boise StateLanston TanyiGR.Colorado StateDLDeMarcus LawrenceSO.Boise StateAndy JenningsJR.Fresno StateDLTyeler DavisonSO.Fresno StatePaipai FalemaluSR.Hawai'iDLMike PurcellSR.WyomingBrock HekkingSO.NevadaLBJ. C. PercySR.Boise StateAlex MeansSR.Air ForceLBAlbert RosetteGR.NevadaTravis BrownSR.Fresno StateLBJohn LotuleleiSR.UNLVJake FelySO.San Diego StateDBJamar TaylorSR.Boise StateJerrell GavinsSR.Boise StateDBPhillip ThomasSR.Fresno StateMike EdwardsJR.Hawai'iDBDerron SmithSO.Fresno StateDuke WilliamsSR.NevadaDBLeon McFaddenSR.San Diego StateNat BerheJR.San Diego StatePPete KontodiakosSR.Colorado StateAlex DunnachieSR.Hawai'i
References