2012 Western Athletic Conference football season

2012 WAC football season
League	NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
Sport	football
Number of teams	7
TV partner(s)	ESPN
Regular season
Season champions	Utah State

2012 WAC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
#16 Utah State $		6	–	0					11	–	2
#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. As of December 15, 2012; Rankings from AP Poll

The 2012 Western Athletic Conference football season was the 51st and final college football season for the Western Athletic Conference. 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 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 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).

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

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	40,453	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.