2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season
The 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level. The season began on August 30, 2012, and concluded with the 2013 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game on January 5, 2013, at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Conference changes
Several teams changed conferences from the 2011 season. Texas State of the Southland Conference, Massachusetts of the Colonial Athletic Association and independents South Alabama and UTSA are transitioning to the Football Bowl Subdivision and were transitional FBS members in 2012; all four will were to become full FBS members in 2013.The Great West Conference dropped football after all of its five football members in the 2011 season joined other conferences. Cal Poly, North Dakota, Southern Utah and UC Davis all joined the Big Sky Conference. South Dakota joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
In their third year as a program, Georgia State, already a full member of the CAA, joined the football conference after two years as an independent. However, this was the Panthers' only season as a CAA football member, as the school has announced that it would begin an FBS transition in 2012 in advance of its July 2013 move to the Sun Belt Conference.
There were no teams playing as independents in 2012.
| School | 2011 Conference | 2012 Conference |
| Cal Poly | Great West | Big Sky |
| Georgia State | Independent | CAA |
| Massachusetts | CAA | MAC |
| North Dakota | Great West | Big Sky |
| South Alabama | Independent | Sun Belt |
| South Dakota | Great West | MVFC |
| Southern Utah | Great West | Big Sky |
| Texas State | Independent | WAC |
| UC Davis | Great West | Big Sky |
| UTSA | Independent | WAC |
FCS team wins over FBS teams
- August 30:
- * Eastern Washington 20, Idaho 3
- * McNeese State 27, Middle Tennessee 21
- September 1:
- * Tennessee–Martin 20, Memphis 17
- * Youngstown State 31, Pittsburgh 17
- September 8:
- * Illinois State 31, Eastern Michigan 14
- * North Dakota State 22, Colorado State 7
- * Northern Arizona 17, UNLV 14
- * Sacramento State 30, Colorado 28
- September 15:
- * Cal Poly 24, Wyoming 22
- September 29:
- * Stony Brook 23, Army 3
Conference standings
Conference summaries
Championship games
Other conference winners
Note: Records are regular-season only, and do not include playoff games.| Conference | Champion | Record | Offensive Player of the Year | Defensive Player of the Year | Coach of the Year |
| Big Sky | Eastern Washington Montana State Cal Poly | 9–2 10–1 9–2 | DeNarius McGhee | Jody Owens | Beau Baldwin Tim Walsh |
| Big South | Coastal Carolina Liberty Stony Brook | 8–3 6–5 9–2 | Miguel Maysonet | Quinn Backus | Joe Moglia |
| CAA | New Hampshire Richmond Villanova Towson | 8–3 8–3 8–3 7–4 | Taylor Heinicke | Stephon Robertson | Andy Talley |
| Ivy | Penn | 6–4 | |||
| MEAC | Bethune-Cookman | 9–2 | |||
| MVFC | North Dakota State | 10–1 | Matt Brown | Marcus Williams | Craig Bohl |
| NEC | Wagner Albany | 9–2 | |||
| OVC | Eastern Illinois | 7–4 | |||
| Patriot | Colgate | 8–3 | |||
| Pioneer | Butler Drake | 8–3 | |||
| Southern | Georgia Southern Appalachian State Wofford | 8–3 | Eric Breitenstein | Jeremy Kimbrough Davis Tull | |
| Southland | Central Arkansas Sam Houston State | 9–2 8–3 | Wynrick Smothers | Darnell Taylor | Clint Conque |
Playoff qualifiers
Automatic berths for conference champions
- Big Sky Conference – Eastern Washington
- Big South Conference – Coastal Carolina
- Colonial Athletic Association – Villanova
- Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Bethune-Cookman
- Missouri Valley Football Conference – North Dakota State
- Northeast Conference – Wagner
- Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Illinois
- Patriot League – Colgate
- Southern Conference – Georgia Southern
- Southland Conference – Central Arkansas
At large qualifiers
- Big Sky Conference - Montana State and Cal Poly
- Big South Conference - Stony Brook
- Colonial Athletic Association - New Hampshire and Old Dominion
- Missouri Valley Football Conference - Illinois State and South Dakota State
- Southern Conference - Wofford and Appalachian State
- Southland Conference - Sam Houston State
Abstains
- Ivy League – Penn
- Southwestern Athletic Conference – Arkansas–Pine Bluff
Postseason
NCAA FCS Playoff bracket
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 FCS end-of-season coaching changes.| School | Outgoing coach | Date | Reason | Replacement |
| Southern | Stump Mitchell | September 17 | Fired | Dawson Odums |
| Davidson | Tripp Merritt | November 5 | Fired | Brett Hayford |
| Florida A&M | Joe Taylor | November 7 | Retired | Earl Holmes |
End of season
| School | Outgoing coach | Date announced | Reason | Replacement |
| Georgia State | Bill Curry | August 15 | Retired | Trent Miles |
| Campbell | Dale Steele | November 5 | Fired | Mike Minter |
| Northwestern State | Bradley Dale Peveto | November 19 | Fired | Jay Thomas |
| Western Illinois | Mark Hendrickson | November 19 | Fired | Bob Nielson |
| Morehead State | Matt Ballard | November 20 | Fired | Rob Tenyer |
| Indiana State | Trent Miles | November 30 | Hired by Georgia State | Mike Sanford |
| Jacksonville State | Jack Crowe | November 30 | Fired | Bill Clark |
| UC Davis | Bob Biggs | December 1 | Retired | Ron Gould |
| Appalachian State | Jerry Moore | December 2 | Retired | Scott Satterfield |
| Cornell | Kent Austin | December 17 | Hired by Hamilton Tiger-Cats | David Archer |
| San Diego | Ron Caragher | December 17 | Hired by San Jose State | Dale Lindsey |
| Davidson | Brett Hayford | December 21 | Permanent replacement | Paul Nichols |
| Charleston Southern | Jay Mills | January 3 | Retired | Jamey Chadwell |
| Delaware | K. C. Keeler | January 7 | Fired | Dave Brock |
| Gardner–Webb | Ron Dickerson, Jr. | January 17 | Resigned | Carroll McCray |
| Savannah State | Steve Davenport | April 17 | Fired | Earnest Wilson III |
- In addition to the above changes, Southern named its interim head coach Dawson Odums as permanent head coach on December 14.