2012 Mountain West Conference football season

The 2012 Mountain West Conference football season was the 14th season of college football for the Mountain West Conference (MW). In the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season, the MW had 10 football members: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaiʻi, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, and Wyoming.

2012 Mountain West Conference football season
LeagueNCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision)
SportFootball
DurationAugust 30, 2012–January 2013
Number of teams10
TV partner(s)The Mtn., CBS Sports Network, Versus
Regular Season
Co-ChampionsFresno State, San Diego State, Boise State
2012 Mountain West Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 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  
Hawaii  1 7     3 9  
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

This was the second consecutive year in which the Mountain West saw changes in membership. After losing two of its charter members in 2011—BYU (WCC and football independent) and Utah (Pac-12)—the MW lost TCU, members since 2005, to the Big 12 in 2012. The conference reloaded with three new members—full conference members Fresno State and Nevada, and football-only Hawaiʻi.

This was originally intended to be the last season for Boise State and San Diego State in the MW. After the 2012–13 school year, both schools' football programs planned to join the Big East. Both schools also planned to join the Big West, a former conference home of both, for non-football sports. San Diego State, a charter member of the Big West, was set to return to that conference after a 35-year absence; Boise State was set to return after a 12-year absence. However, due to major instability in the Big East, culminating in the mass exodus of the conference's seven basketball-first schools in December 2012, Boise State chose to remain in the MW for 2013 and beyond.[1] San Diego State has since sought to remain in the MW, and as a part of Boise State's agreement to remain in the MW, the conference must offer an invitation to San Diego State to remain in the MW before it can invite any other school.[2]

In addition, San Jose State and Utah State will join the MW in 2013.

Preseason

Award watch lists

The following Mountain West players were named to preseason award watch lists.

All–Conference Team

Coaches

NOTE: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season

Team Head Coach Years at School Overall Record Record at School MW Record
Air Force Troy Calhoun 6 34–18 34–18 21–11
Boise State Chris Petersen 7 61–5 61–5 0–0*
Colorado State Jim McElwain 1
Fresno State Tim DeRuyter 1
Hawaiʻi Norm Chow 1
Nevada Chris Ault 24 226–103–1 226–103–1
New Mexico Bob Davie 1
San Diego State Rocky Long 2 65–69 0–0 40–34^
UNLV Bobby Hauck 3 82–28 2–11 2–6
Wyoming Dave Christensen 4 10–15 10–15 5–11

*first year as conference member, ^achieved as head coach of New Mexico from 99–08

Rankings

Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Unranked the previous week
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
 PreWk
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
Wk
15
Final
Air Force AP
C
Harris Not released
BCS Not released
Boise State AP 24 RV RV 24 24 RV 24 24 21 19 RV RV RV 25 20 18
C 22 25 RV RV RV 25 22 22 18 14 24 22 22 15 15 14
Harris Not released 22 23 19 17 23 23 21 17 15
BCS Not released 22 21 19 22 20 19
Colorado State AP
C
Harris Not released
BCS Not released
Fresno State AP RV RV RV RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV
Harris Not released RV RV RV RV RV
BCS Not released
Hawaiʻi AP
C
Harris Not released
BCS Not released
Nevada AP
C RV RV RV RV
Harris Not released RV RV RV
BCS Not released
New Mexico AP
C
Harris Not released
BCS Not released
San Diego State AP RV RV RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV
Harris Not released RV RV RV RV RV
BCS Not released
UNLV AP
C
Harris Not released
BCS Not released
Wyoming AP
C
Harris Not released
BCS Not released

Bowl games

The Mountain West Conference will have agreements with the following bowls for 2012–13:

  • The MW champion will receive an automatic berth in one of the five BCS bowl games if they are the highest ranked non-automatic qualifying conference champion and either of the following:
    • Ranked in the top 12 of the BCS Rankings. (Utah qualified under this criterion in 2004-05 and 2008–09, and TCU in 2009-10 and 2010–11.)
    • Ranked in the top 16 of the BCS Rankings and its ranking is higher than that of an automatic qualifying conference champion.
Pick Name Location Opposing Conference Opposing Pick
1 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada Pac-12 5
2 Poinsettia Bowl San Diego, California BYU (2012), Army (2013)
3 Armed Forces Bowl Fort Worth, Texas C-USA (2012), Navy (2013) 3, –
4 New Mexico Bowl Albuquerque, New Mexico Pac-12 7
5 Hawai'i Bowl Honolulu, Hawaii C-USA 2

If Hawai‘i is bowl eligible and not MW champions or selected for a BCS bowl, they will receive a berth in the Hawai‘i Bowl.

Regular season

Index to colors and formatting
Mountain West member won
Mountain West member lost
Mountain West teams in bold

All dates, times, and TV are tentative and subject to change.

The Mountain West has teams in 3 different time zones. Times reflect start time in respective time zone of each team (Mountain—Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, Wyoming; Pacific—Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, UNLV; Hawaii-Aleutian—Hawaiʻi). Conference games start times are that of the home team.

Week One

DateTimeVisiting teamHome teamSiteTVResultAttendance
August 30 8:00 pm Minnesota UNLV Sam Boyd StadiumWhitney, NV CBSSN L Minn 30-27   16,013
August 31 6:00 pm No. 24 Boise State No. 13 Michigan State Spartan StadiumEast Lansing, MI ESPN L MSU 17-13   78,709
September 1 12:00 pm Idaho State Air Force Falcon StadiumColorado Springs, CO W AF 49-21   35,282
September 1 12:00 pm Nevada California California Memorial StadiumBerkeley, CA P12N W NV 31-24   63,186
September 1 1:30 pm Hawaii No. 1 USC Los Angeles Memorial ColiseumLos Angeles, CA FOX L USC   93,607
September 1 2:00 pm Colorado State Colorado Sports Authority Field at Mile HighDenver, CO FX W CSU 22-17   58,607
September 1 3:00 pm Southern New Mexico University StadiumAlbuquerque, NM W NM 66-21   28,450
September 1 6:00 pm Wyoming No. 15 Texas Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial StadiumAustin, TX LHN L UT 37-17   101,142
September 1 7:00 pm Weber State Fresno State Bulldog StadiumFresno, CA W FSU 37-10   27,663
September 1 7:30 pm San Diego Washington CenturyLink FieldSeattle, WA P12N L UW 21-12   53,742
#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Home attendance

Team Stadium Capacity Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Game 6 Game 7 Total Average % of Capacity
Air Force Falcon Stadium 52,480 35,282 38,562 38,927 29,726 24,277 25,213
191,987 31,998 60.97%
Boise State Bronco Stadium 37,000 34,178 36,864 35,742 36,012 36,084 33,545
212,425 35,404 95.69%
Colorado State Hughes Stadium 34,400 23,567 23,374 25,814 16,573 13,887 12,286
115,501 19,250 55.96%
Fresno State Bulldog Stadium 41,031 27,663 27,513 33,894 29,423 30,755 36,240
185,488 30,915 75.35%
Hawaiʻi Aloha Stadium 50,000 31,442 31,417 31,632 29,471 28,359 27,865
180,186 30,031 60.06%
Nevada Mackay Stadium 29,993 22,804 19,399 24,025 22,242 22,104 30,017
140,591 23,432 78.12%
New Mexico University Stadium 38,634 28,450 28,270 22,135 19,856 17,839 17,290
133,840 22,307 57.74%
San Diego State Qualcomm Stadium 71,294 30,799 24,826 24,103 50,586 27,133 23,874 30,266 211,587 30,227 42.40%
UNLV Sam Boyd Stadium 36,800 16,013 15,257 17,015 14,054 20,565 12,835 10,717 106,456 15,208 41.33%
Wyoming War Memorial Stadium 34,000 21,688 21,728 22,627 17,855 20,055 13,374
117,327 19,555 57.51%

References

  1. McMurphy, Brett (December 31, 2012). "Boise St. sticking with Mountain West". ESPN. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  2. Dodd, Dennis (January 2, 2013). "Boise State: San Diego State must be next invite to Mountain West". College Football Insider. CBS Sports. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  3. "Football Club News". Maxwell Football Club. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  4. "Football Club News". Maxwell Football Club. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  5. "John Mackey Award". Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  6. "2011 Biletnikoff Award watch list | No 2 Minute Warning". No2minutewarning.com. 2011-07-06. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  7. "FWAA > News > Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List". Sportswriters.net. 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  8. "FWAA > News > Outland Trophy Watch List". Sportswriters.net. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  9. "2011 Thorpe Award Watch List Released | The Jim Thorpe Association and Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame". Jimthorpeassoc.org. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  10. "The 2011 Official Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List Released". Rotarylombardiaward.com. 2011-07-12. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  11. "Rimington Trophy". Rimington Trophy. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  12. "2011 DAVEY O'BRIEN WATCH LIST - Davey O'Brien". Blog.daveyobrien.org. Archived from the original on 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  13. "Doak Walker Award". Smu.edu. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  14. "Forty named to Walter Camp list". NCAA.com. 2011-07-18. Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  15. "Watch List". Lott IMPACT Trophy. Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  16. "Current Watch List | PB Sports Commission - Lou Groza". Lougrozaaward.com. 2009-09-19. Archived from the original on 2009-08-17. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
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