2012 Western Athletic Conference football season

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.

2012 WAC football season
League	NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
Sport	Football
Duration	August 30, 2012 through December 27, 2012
Number of teams	7
TV partner(s)	ESPN
2013 NFL Draft
Top draft pick	CB Will Davis, USU
Picked by	Miami Dolphins, 93rd overall
Regular Season
Champions	Utah State
Season MVP	QB Colby Cameron, La. Tech DL Travis Johnson, SJSU

2012 Western Athletic Conference football standings

v t e	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 were not eligible for conference title or bowl games as part of their transition to the FBS. Rankings from AP Poll

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

Main article: 2011 Western Athletic Conference football season

Rankings

See also: 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football 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	Wk 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
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs	AP	RV				RV	RV	23	RV	24	22	19	19	RV
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	RV	RV	23	18	19	RV	RV	RV	RV
	HAR	Not released						24	RV	RV	24	19	20	RV	RV	RV
	BCS	Not released									25	20	20
New Mexico State Aggies	AP
	C
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
San Jose State Spartans	AP												RV	RV	RV	24	21
	C				RV	RV	RV	RV						RV	RV	24	21
	HAR	Not released										RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
	BCS	Not released													25	24
Texas State Bobcats	AP		RV
	C
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released
Utah State Aggies	AP		RV	RV								RV	RV	25	20	18	16
	C										RV	RV	RV	RV	22	20	17
	HAR	Not released									RV	RV	RV	RV	22	21
	BCS	Not released													24	22
UTSA Roadrunners	AP
	C
	HAR	Not released
	BCS	Not released

Regular season

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

Week One

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
August 30	6:00 pm	Southern Utah	Utah State	Romney Stadium • Logan, UT	KMYU/ESPN3	W 34-3	17,009
August 30	6:00 pm	No. 12 (FCS) Eastern Washington	Idaho	Kibbie Dome • Moscow, ID	ESPN3	L 3-20	11,136
August 30	6:00 pm	Sacramento State	New Mexico State	Aggie Memorial Stadium • Las Cruces, NM	ESPN3	W 49-19	12,118
August 31	7:00 pm	San Jose State	No. 21 Stanford	Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	P12N	L 17-20	40,577
September 1	1:00 pm	UTSA	South Alabama	Ladd–Peebles Stadium • Mobile, AL	ESPN3	W 33-31	17,144
September 1	7:00 pm	Texas State	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	CSS	W UH 30-13	32,207
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Week Two

Date	Time	Visiting team	Home team	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Ref.
September 8	6:00 pm	Louisiana Tech	Houston	Robertson Stadium • Houston, TX	CBSSN	W 56-49	29,142
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

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

^[1]

Bowl games

Bowl Game	Date	Site	Television	Time (EST)	Visiting Team	Home Team	Score	Attendance
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl	December 15	Bronco Stadium * Boise, ID	ESPN	4:30 p.m.	Toledo	Utah State	15-41	29,243
Military Bowl	December 27	RFK Stadium * Washington, D.C.	ESPN	3:00 p.m.	San Jose State	Bowling Green	29-20	17,835

Home attendance

Team	Stadium (Capacity)	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Total	Average	% of Capacity
Idaho	Kibbie Dome (16,000)	11,136	13,558	14,755			—
Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium (30,600)	23,228	21,850	40,453A	20,255	23,645	25,614
New Mexico State	Aggie Memorial Stadium (30,343)	12,118	25,211	14,341	12,118
San Jose State	Spartan Stadium (30,456)	7,462	7,189	15,168	7,093	15,494
Texas State	Bobcat Stadium (30,000)	33,006	17,188	14,210	16,973
Utah State	Romney Stadium (25,513)	17,009	25,513	24,226	17,001
UTSA	Alamodome (65,000)	30,416	25,742	30,862	23,519	25,784	39,032

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