The 2012 Western Athletic Conference football season was the 51st and final college football season for the Western Athletic Conference in the top level of NCAA football, known since 2006 as Division I FBS. Seven teams competed in the 2012 season: Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Texas State, Utah State, and UTSA. Utah State went undefeated against its conference opponents to become, at the time, the final WAC conference champion. It was also chosen to represent the WAC in one of its two bowl berths; conference runner-up San Jose State was chosen to fill the conference's other bowl berth.
Due to a major wave of departures that hit the WAC hard over the previous three seasons, the 2012 WAC football season marked what was at that time the conference's final season sponsoring football. Before the season began, San Jose State and Utah State announced they would be leaving to join several other former WAC schools in the Mountain West Conference. Louisiana Tech and UTSA joined several other schools in moving to Conference USA after the season, which also contains several former WAC members. Texas State moved to the Sun Belt Conference. Idaho and New Mexico State joined Notre Dame, Army, Navy, and BYU as FBS independents for 2013 before becoming Sun Belt football-only members in 2014 (Idaho left the WAC entirely as part of the realignment; while electing to keep their football team as a Bowl Subdivision member, the Vandals returned to the Big Sky Conference for other sports).
The WAC will reinstate football in the fall 2021 season, but at the second level of NCAA football, Division I FCS. For more information on the revival of WAC football, see the section of the main conference page that discusses this development.
Rankings
+ Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking Not ranked previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
+ Ranking Movement Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 FinalIdahoVandals AP C HARNot released BCS Not released Louisiana TechBulldogs AP RV RV RV 23 RV 24 22 1919 RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV 24 RV RV 23 18 19 RV RV RV RVHARNot released 24 RV RV 24 19 20 RV RV RV BCS Not released 25 20 20 New Mexico StateAggies AP C HARNot released BCS Not released San Jose StateSpartans AP RV RV RV 24 21C RV RV RV RV RV RV 24 21HARNot released RV RV RV RV RV BCS Not released 25 24 Texas StateBobcats AP RV C HARNot released BCS Not released Utah StateAggies AP RV RV RV RV 25 20 18 16C RV RV RV RV 22 20 17HARNot released RV RV RV RV 22 21 BCS Not released 24 22 UTSARoadrunners AP C HARNot released BCS Not released
Regular season Index to colors and formattingWAC member wonWAC member lostWAC teams in bold
Week One
Week Two
All-WAC Teams
First Team
Offense QB Colby Cameron–Louisiana Tech RB Kenneth Dixon–Louisiana Tech RB Kerwynn Williams–Utah State WR Quinton Patton–Louisiana Tech WR Austin Franklin–New Mexico State TE Ryan Otten–San Jose State OL Steven Warner–Louisiana Tech OL David Quessenberry–San Jose State OL Tyler Larsen–Utah State OL Davonte Wallace–New Mexico State OL Eric Schultz–Utah State
Defense DL Travis Johnson–San Jose State DL Travis Raciti–San Jose State DL Anthony Larceval–San Jose State DL IK Enemkpali–Louisiana Tech LB Trashaun Nixon–New Mexico State LB Keith Smith–San Jose State LB Kyler Fackrell–Utah State DB Bené Benwikere–San Jose State DB Will Davis–Utah State DB Gary Walker–Idaho DB Dave Clark–Louisiana Tech
Specialists PK Austin Lopez–San Jose State P Ryan Allen–Louisiana Tech KR D. J. Banks–Louisiana Tech PR Cameron Webb-Utah State
Second Team
Offense QB Chuckie Keeton–Utah State RB De'Leon Eskridge–San Jose State RB Ray Holley–Louisiana Tech WR Myles White–Louisiana Tech WR Chandler Jones–San Jose State WR Kermonte Bartlett–New Mexico State TE Kellen Bartlett–Utah State OL Jordan Mills–Louisiana Tech OL Scott Inskeep–UTSA OL Oscar Johnson–Louisiana Tech OL Mike Marboe–Idaho OL Nicholas Kaspar–San Jose State
Defense DL David Tuitupou–San Jose State DL Jordan Nielsen–Utah State DL Franky Anaya–UTSA DL Al Lapuaho–Utah State LB Vince Buhagiar–San Jose State LB Jake Doughty–Utah State LB Brandon Reeves–UTSA LB Joplo Bartu–Texas State DB Jeremy Harris–New Mexico State DB Chad Boyd–Louisiana Tech DB David Cazares–New Mexico State DB Triston Wade–UTSA
Specialists PK Trey Farquhar–Idaho P Cayle Chapman-Brown–New Mexico State KR Chuck Jacobs–Utah State PR D.J. Banks-Louisiana Tech
Players of the year
Offense Colby Cameron–Louisiana Tech
Defense Travis Johnson–San Jose State
Freshman Kenneth Dixon–Louisiana Tech
Coach of the year Gary Andersen–Utah State
Bowl games
Bowl GameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)Visiting TeamHome TeamScoreAttendanceFamous Idaho Potato BowlDecember 15Bronco Stadium * Boise, IDESPN4:30 p.m.ToledoUtah State15-4129,243Military BowlDecember 27RFK Stadium * Washington, D.C.ESPN3:00 p.m.San Jose StateBowling Green29-2017,835
Home attendance TeamStadium (Capacity)Game 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5Game 6TotalAverage% of Capacity IdahoKibbie Dome (16,000)11,13613,55814,755 Louisiana TechJoe Aillet Stadium (30,600)23,22821,85040,45320,25523,64525,614 New Mexico StateAggie Memorial Stadium (30,343)12,11825,21114,34112,118 San Jose StateSpartan Stadium (30,456)7,4627,18915,1687,09315,494 Texas StateBobcat Stadium (30,000)33,00617,18814,21016,973 Utah StateRomney Stadium (25,513)17,00925,51324,22617,001 UTSAAlamodome (65,000)30,41625,74230,86223,51925,78439,032 Louisiana Tech's home game against Texas A&M was played at the 49,427-seat Independence Stadium in Shreveport.
NFL draft The following list includes all WAC players who were drafted in the 2013 NFL draft.
Round # Pick # NFL team Player Position College 3 93 Miami Dolphins Will Davis CB Utah State 4 128 San Francisco 49ers Quinton Patton WR Louisiana Tech 5 159 Green Bay Packers Jordan Mills T Louisiana Tech 6 176 Houston Texans David Quessenberry T San Jose State 7 208 Jacksonville Jaguars Jeremy Harris CB New Mexico State 7 230 Indianapolis Colts Kerwynn Williams RB Utah State
References