2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season

2012 NCAA Division I FBS season
Total # of teams	124
National championship	2013 BCS Championship Game
Location of championship	Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida
Division I FBS football season «2011 2013»

The 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, will begin in late summer 2012.

Rule changes

The NCAA Rules Committee approved the following rule changes for the 2012 season (mainly 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 or fumbles into 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.
• 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

Main article: 2010–12 NCAA conference realignment

Membership changes

Includes schools transitioning to FBS.

School	Former Conference	New Conference
Fresno State Bulldogs	WAC	Mountain West
Hawaiʻi Warriors	WAC	Mountain West (Big West in other sports)
Massachusetts Minutemen	CAA (football only)	MAC (football only)
Missouri Tigers	Big 12	SEC
Nevada Wolf Pack	WAC	Mountain West
South Alabama Jaguars	FCS Independent (football only)	Sun Belt (full member)
TCU Horned Frogs	Mountain West	Big 12
Temple Owls	MAC (football only)	Big East (football only in 2012; all sports in 2013)
Texas A&M Aggies	Big 12	SEC
Texas State Bobcats	Southland	WAC
UTSA Roadrunners	Southland	WAC
West Virginia Mountaineers	Big East	Big 12

New, expanded, renovated, and temporary stadiums

Renovated stadiums

• California will return 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 its previous 71,800 to 62,700. The Golden Bears played their 2011 home schedule at AT&T Park in San Francisco, and also played a technically neutral-site game against Fresno State at Candlestick Park, also in San Francisco.

Temporary stadiums

• Due to major renovations at Husky Stadium, Washington is playing its entire 2012 home schedule at nearby CenturyLink Field, home to the Seattle Seahawks (NFL) and Seattle Sounders FC (MLS). Because the renovation began before the end of the 2011 season, the Huskies also hosted that year's edition of the Apple Cup against Washington State at CenturyLink Field.
• Due to renovations at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium, Massachusetts is playing its entire 2012 and 2013 home schedules at Gillette Stadium, home to the New England Patriots (NFL) and New England Revolution (MLS). As Gillette is approximately a 90-minute drive from the UMass campus, they will not host any non-Saturday games.

Conference standings

2012 ACC football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   Atlantic #10 Florida State xy†   7 – 1         12 – 2   #11 Clemson x   7 – 1         11 – 2   NC State   4 – 4         7 – 6   Wake Forest   3 – 5         5 – 7   Maryland   2 – 6         4 – 8   Boston College   1 – 7         2 – 10   Coastal North Carolina* x   5 – 3         8 – 4   Miami* x   5 – 3         7 – 5   Georgia Tech xy   5 – 3         7 – 7   Virginia Tech   4 – 4         7 – 6   Duke   3 – 5         6 – 7   Virginia   2 – 6         4 – 8   Championship: Florida State 21, Georgia Tech 15 † – BCS representative as champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant North Carolina ineligible for championship and postseason due to NCAA sanctions. Miami ineligible for championship and postseason due to a self-imposed postseason ban. As of January 8, 2013 • Rankings from AP Poll	2012 Big 12 football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   #7 Kansas State †§   8 – 1         11 – 2   #12 Oklahoma §   8 – 1         10 – 3   Texas   5 – 4         9 – 4   Oklahoma State   5 – 4         8 – 5   Baylor   4 – 5         8 – 5   TCU   4 – 5         7 – 6   Texas Tech   4 – 5         8 – 5   West Virginia   4 – 5         7 – 6   Iowa State   3 – 6         6 – 7   Kansas   0 – 9         1 – 11   † – BCS representative as champion § – Conference co-champions As of January 5, 2013 • Rankings from AP Poll	2012 Big East football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   #22 Louisville †§   5 – 2         11 – 2   Cincinnati §   5 – 2         10 – 3   Rutgers §   5 – 2         9 – 4   Syracuse §   5 – 2         8 – 5   Pittsburgh   3 – 4         6 – 7   Connecticut   2 – 5         5 – 7   Temple   2 – 5         4 – 7   South Florida   1 – 6         3 – 9   † – BCS representative as champion § – Conference co-champions As of January 5, 2013 • Rankings from AP Poll
2012 Big Ten football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   Legends #25 Nebraska xy   7 – 1         10 – 4   #24 Michigan   6 – 2         8 – 5   #17 Northwestern   5 – 3         10 – 3   Michigan State   3 – 5         7 – 6   Minnesota   2 – 6         6 – 7   Iowa   2 – 6         4 – 8   Leaders #3 Ohio State* x   8 – 0         12 – 0   Penn State*   6 – 2         8 – 4   Wisconsin y†   4 – 4         8 – 6   Purdue   3 – 5         6 – 7   Indiana   2 – 6         4 – 8   Illinois   0 – 8         2 – 10   Championship: Wisconsin 70, Nebraska 31 † – BCS representative as champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Ohio State and Penn State ineligible for conference championship game and post-season bowl games due to NCAA sanctions As of January 8, 2013 • Rankings from AP Poll	2012 Conference USA football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   East East Carolina   0 – 0         0 – 0   Marshall   0 – 0         0 – 0   Memphis   0 – 0         0 – 0   Southern Miss   0 – 0         0 – 0   UAB   0 – 0         0 – 0   UCF   0 – 0         0 – 0   West Houston   0 – 0         0 – 0   Rice   0 – 0         0 – 0   SMU   0 – 0         0 – 0   Tulane   0 – 0         0 – 0   Tulsa   0 – 0         0 – 0   UTEP   0 – 0         0 – 0   Championship: December 1, 2012 Rankings from AP Poll	2012 Division I FBS independents football records Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   BYU     –           8 – 5   Navy     –           8 – 5   Army     –           2 – 10   No. 4 Notre Dame ‡   –           0* – 0   ‡ – BCS at-large representative *All wins and national championship appearance for Notre Dame (12–1) in the 2012 season are vacated As of January 7, 2013 • Rankings from AP Poll
2012 Mid-American Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   East #25 Kent State xy   8 – 0         11 – 3   Bowling Green   6 – 2         8 – 5   Ohio   4 – 4         9 – 4   Buffalo   3 – 5         4 – 8   Miami   3 – 5         4 – 8   Massachusetts*   1 – 7         1 – 11   Akron   0 – 8         1 – 11   West #16 Northern Illinois xy†   8 – 0         12 – 2   Toledo   6 – 2         9 – 4   Ball State   6 – 2         9 – 4   Central Michigan   4 – 4         7 – 6   Western Michigan   2 – 6         4 – 8   Eastern Michigan   1 – 7         2 – 10   Championship: Northern Illinois 44, Kent State 37 † – Conference champion and BCS representative as top 000non-AQ school to meet automatic qualification criteria x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Not eligible for conference title or bowl game as part of FBS transition As of January 1, 2013 • Rankings from AP Poll	2012 Mountain West Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   #18 Boise State §   7 – 1         11 – 2   Fresno State §   7 – 1         9 – 4   San Diego State §   7 – 1         9 – 4   Air Force   5 – 3         6 – 7   Nevada   4 – 4         7 – 6   Wyoming   3 – 5         4 – 8   Colorado State   3 – 5         4 – 8   UNLV   2 – 6         2 – 11   New Mexico   1 – 7         4 – 9   Hawaiʻi   1 – 7         3 – 9   § – Conference co-champions As of December 29, 2012 • Rankings from AP Poll	2012 Pacific-12 football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   North California   0 – 0         0 – 0   Oregon   0 – 0         0 – 0   Oregon State   0 – 0         0 – 0   Stanford   0 – 0         0 – 0   Washington   0 – 0         0 – 0   Washington State   0 – 0         0 – 0   South Arizona   0 – 0         0 – 0   Arizona State   0 – 0         0 – 0   Colorado   0 – 0         0 – 0   UCLA   0 – 0         0 – 0   USC   0 – 0         0 – 0   Utah   0 – 0         0 – 0   Championship: November 30, 2012 Rankings from AP Poll
2012 SEC football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   Eastern Division Florida   0 – 0         0 – 0   Georgia   0 – 0         0 – 0   Kentucky   0 – 0         0 – 0   Missouri   0 – 0         0 – 0   South Carolina   0 – 0         0 – 0   Tennessee   0 – 0         0 – 0   Vanderbilt   0 – 0         0 – 0   Western Division Alabama   0 – 0         0 – 0   Arkansas   0 – 0         0 – 0   Auburn   0 – 0         0 – 0   LSU   0 – 0         0 – 0   Mississippi State   0 – 0         0 – 0   Ole Miss   0 – 0         0 – 0   Texas A&M   0 – 0         0 – 0   Championship: December 1, 2012 Rankings from AP Poll	2012 Sun Belt football standings Conf     Overall Team   W   L         W   L   Arkansas State †   7 – 1         9 – 3   Louisiana–Lafayette   6 – 2         9 – 4   Louisiana–Monroe   6 – 2         8 – 5   Middle Tennessee   6 – 2         8 – 4   WKU   4 – 4         7 – 6   Troy   3 – 5         5 – 7   North Texas   3 – 5         4 – 8   Florida Atlantic   2 – 6         3 – 9   FIU   2 – 6         3 – 9   South Alabama*   1 – 7         2 – 11   † – Conference champion South Alabama not eligible for conference title or bowl game as part of their transition to the FBS. As of December 28, 2012 • Rankings from AP Poll	2012 WAC football standings Conf     Overall 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 are not eligible for conference title nor bowl games as part of their transition to the FBS. Rankings from AP Poll

Coaching changes

Preseason and in-season

This is restricted to coaching changes that took place on or after May 1, 2012. For coaching changes that occurred earlier in 2012, see 2011 NCAA Division I FBS end-of-season coaching changes.

See also

• 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

External links

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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with American Football Database, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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