# 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.
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 | 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 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Idaho Vandals | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Idaho Vandals | HAR | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | | | | |
| Idaho Vandals | BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | | | |
| Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | AP | RV | | | | RV | RV | 23 | RV | 24 | 22 | 19 | 19 | RV | | | |
| Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | C | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 24 | RV | RV | 23 | 18 | 19 | RV | RV | RV | RV |
| Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | HAR | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 24 | RV | RV | 24 | 19 | 20 | RV | RV | RV | |
| Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | 25 | 20 | 20 | | | | |
| New Mexico State Aggies | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Mexico State Aggies | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Mexico State Aggies | HAR | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | | | | |
| New Mexico State Aggies | BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | | | |
| San Jose State Spartans | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | RV | RV | RV | 24 | 21 |
| San Jose State Spartans | C | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | RV | RV | 24 | 21 |
| San Jose State Spartans | HAR | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | |
| San Jose State Spartans | BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | 25 | 24 | |
| Texas State Bobcats | AP | | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Texas State Bobcats | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Texas State Bobcats | HAR | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | | | | |
| Texas State Bobcats | BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | | | |
| Utah State Aggies | AP | | RV | RV | | | | | | | | RV | RV | 25 | 20 | 18 | 16 |
| Utah State Aggies | C | | | | | | | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | 22 | 20 | 17 |
| Utah State Aggies | HAR | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | 22 | 21 | |
| Utah State Aggies | BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | 24 | 22 | |
| UTSA Roadrunners | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| UTSA Roadrunners | C | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| UTSA Roadrunners | HAR | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | | | | | | | | | | |
| UTSA Roadrunners | BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 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 |
| 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
### Coach of the year

Gary Andersen–Utah State

## 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 |
| 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.