2012 Western Athletic Conference football season

Last updated

2012 WAC football season
Logo WAC.png
League NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport Football
DurationAugust 30, 2012
through December 27, 2012
Number of teams7
TV partner(s) ESPN
2013 NFL Draft
Top draft pickCB Will Davis, USU
Picked by Miami Dolphins, 93rd overall
Regular Season
Champions Utah State
Season MVPQB Colby Cameron, La. Tech
DL Travis Johnson, SJSU
Football seasons
  2011
2021 
2012 Western Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
No. 16 Utah State $  6 0   11 2  
No. 21 San Jose State  5 1   11 2  
Louisiana Tech  4 2   9 3  
UTSA *  3 3   8 4  
Texas State *  2 4   4 8  
Idaho  1 5   1 11  
New Mexico State  0 6   1 11  
  • $ Conference champion
  • * Texas State and UTSA were not eligible for conference title or bowl games as part of their transition to the FBS.
Rankings from AP Poll

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.

Contents

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.

Previous season

Rankings

Legend
  Improvement in ranking
 Drop in ranking
 Not ranked previous week
RVReceived votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
Ranking Movement
 PreWk
1
Wk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Wk
13
Wk
14
Final
Idaho
Vandals
AP
C
HARNot released
BCSNot released
Louisiana Tech
Bulldogs
APRVRVRV23RV24221919RV
CRVRVRVRVRVRV24RVRV231819RVRVRVRV
HARNot released24RVRV241920RVRVRV
BCSNot released252020
New Mexico State
Aggies
AP
C
HARNot released
BCSNot released
San Jose State
Spartans
APRVRVRV2421
CRVRVRVRVRVRV2421
HARNot releasedRVRVRVRVRV
BCSNot released2524
Texas State
Bobcats
APRV
C
HARNot released
BCSNot released
Utah State
Aggies
APRVRVRVRV25201816
CRVRVRVRV222017
HARNot releasedRVRVRVRV2221
BCSNot released2422
UTSA
Roadrunners
AP
C
HARNot released
BCSNot released

Regular season

Index to colors and formatting
WAC member won
WAC member lost
WAC teams in bold

Week One

DateTimeVisiting teamHome teamSiteTVResultAttendanceRef.
August 306:00 pm Southern Utah Utah State Romney StadiumLogan, UT KMYU/ESPN3 W 34-3  17,009
August 306:00 pmNo. 12 (FCS)  Eastern Washington Idaho Kibbie DomeMoscow, ID ESPN3 L 3-20  11,136
August 306:00 pm Sacramento State New Mexico State Aggie Memorial StadiumLas Cruces, NM ESPN3 W 49-19  12,118
August 317:00 pmSan Jose StateNo. 21  Stanford Stanford StadiumStanford, CA P12N L 17-20  40,577
September 11:00 pmUTSA South Alabama Ladd–Peebles StadiumMobile, AL ESPN3 W 33-31  17,144
September 17:00 pmTexas State Houston Robertson StadiumHouston, TX CSS W UH 30-13  32,207
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Two

DateTimeVisiting teamHome teamSiteTVResultAttendanceRef.
September 86:00 pmLouisiana Tech Houston Robertson StadiumHouston, TX CBSSN W 56-49  29,142
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Bowl games

Bowl GameDateSiteTelevisionTime (EST)Visiting TeamHome TeamScoreAttendance
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl December 15 Bronco Stadium * Boise, ID ESPN 4:30 p.m. Toledo Utah State 15-4129,243
Military Bowl December 27 RFK Stadium * Washington, D.C. ESPN 3:00 p.m. San Jose State Bowling Green 29-2017,835

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)23,22821,85040,453 A 20,25523,64525,614
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

^A Louisiana Tech's home game against Texas A&M was played at the 49,427-seat Independence Stadium in Shreveport.

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