2012 Montana State Bobcats football team

2012 Montana State Bobcats football
2012 Montana State Bobcats football
Big Sky co-champion
NCAA Division I Quarterfinal, L 16–34 vs. Sam Houston State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 5
FCS Coaches	No. 5
Record	11–2 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Rob Ash (6th season);
Offensive coordinator	Kevin McGiven (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Jamie Marshall (6th season)
Home stadium	Bobcat Stadium
	Seasons ← 2011 2013 →

2012 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 Eastern Washington +^	7	–	1	11	–	3
No. 5 Montana State +^	7	–	1	11	–	2
No. 12 Cal Poly +^	7	–	1	9	–	3
No. 20 Northern Arizona	6	–	2	8	–	3
Sacramento State	4	–	4	6	–	5
Northern Colorado	4	–	4	5	–	6
Southern Utah	4	–	4	5	–	6
North Dakota	3	–	5	5	–	6
Montana	3	–	5	5	–	6
UC Davis	3	–	5	4	–	7
Portland State	2	–	6	3	–	8
Weber State	2	–	6	2	–	9
Idaho State	0	–	8	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

The 2012 Montana State Bobcats football team represented Montana State University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bobcats were led by sixth-year head coach Rob Ash and played their home games at Bobcat Stadium. They finished the season 11–2 overall and 7–1 in Big Sky play to share the conference championship with Cal Poly and Eastern Washington. The received an at–large bid into the FCS playoffs where they defeated Stony Brook in the second round before falling to Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals. It was the second straight year the Bobcats were knocked out of the playoffs by Sam Houston State.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:05 pm	Chadron State*	No. 4	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	Max Media/Big Sky TV	W 33–6	20,767
September 8	5:05 pm	at Drake*	No. 4	Drake Stadium Des Moines, IA		W 34–24	3,558
September 15	1:35 pm	No. 23 Stephen F. Austin*	No. 3	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	Max Media/Big Sky TV	W 43–35	17,147
September 22	2:05 pm	Northern Colorado	No. 2	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	Max Media/Big Sky TV	W 41–16	18,637
September 29	1:35 pm	at Southern Utah	No. 2	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	RTNW^[1]	W 24–17	8,417
October 6	5:05 pm	at UC Davis	No. 2	Aggie Stadium Davis, CA	RTNW	W 48–41	9,877
October 13	1:35 pm	No. 6 Eastern Washington	No. 2	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	L 24–27	20,477
October 27	2:05 pm	North Dakota	No. 4	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	Max Media/Big Sky TV	W 55–10	17,137
November 3	5:05 pm	at Sacramento State	No. 3	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	RTNW	W 20–17	7,143
November 10	1:35 pm	Portland State	No. 2	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	W 65–30	15,177
November 17	1:35 pm	at Montana	No. 2	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (rivalry)	RTNW	W 16–7	26,210
December 1	5:00 pm	No. 10 Stony Brook*	No. 2	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN3	W 16–10	15,257
December 7	6:00 pm	No. 5 Sam Houston State*	No. 2	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	ESPN2	L 16–34	16,417
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Game summaries

Chadron State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	3	0	3	0	6
#4 Bobcats	6	13	7	7	33

@ Drake

	1	2	3	4	Total
#4 Bobcats	7	7	7	13	34
Bulldogs	0	17	7	0	24

Stephen F. Austin

	1	2	3	4	Total
#23 Lumberjacks	10	10	3	12	35
#3 Bobcats	14	7	7	15	43

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	13	3	0	16
#2 Bobcats	21	10	7	3	41

@ Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Bobcats	7	7	3	7	24
Thunderbirds	0	7	0	10	17

@ UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Bobcats	7	24	0	17	48
Aggies	14	0	24	3	41

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
#6 Eagles	0	3	10	14	27
#2 Bobcats	0	10	7	7	24

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
North Dakota	7	0	3	0	10
#4 Bobcats	14	14	7	20	55

@ Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#3 Bobcats	7	3	3	7	20
Hornets	3	7	7	0	17

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	7	3	10	10	30
#2 Bobcats	24	35	6	0	65

@ Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Bobcats	3	7	3	3	16
Grizzlies	7	0	0	0	7

FCS Playoffs

Stony Brook–FCS Playoffs Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
#10 Seawolves	0	3	0	7	10
#2 Bobcats	7	3	3	3	16

Sam Houston State–FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
#5 Bearkats	3	17	7	7	34
#2 Bobcats	3	0	6	7	16

This is the second straight year the Bobcats and Bearkats have met in the FCS quarterfinals. Last years game was in Huntsville, Texas.

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
Sports Network	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	5	4	3	2	2	2
Coaches	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	5	4	3	2	2	2

References

^ "DIRECTV Sports Networks and Big Sky Conference Announce Inaugural 2012 Football Schedule on ROOT SPORTS". Rootsports.com. Retrieved April 10, 2012.

[1] "DIRECTV Sports Networks and Big Sky Conference Announce Inaugural 2012 Football Schedule on ROOT SPORTS". Rootsports.com. Retrieved April 10, 2012.

[1]

v t e Montana State Bobcats football
Venues	Gatton Field (1930–1971) Van Winkle Stadium (1972) Bobcat Stadium (1973–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Montana
Culture & lore	Spirit of the West Marching Band
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906–1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Big Sky Conference football champions
College Division / Division II	Idaho State (1963) Montana State (1964) Weber State & Idaho (1965) Montana State (1966) Montana State (1967) Idaho, Montana State, & Weber State (1968) Montana (1969) Montana (1970) Idaho (1971) Montana State (1972) Boise State (1973) Boise State (1974) Boise State (1975) Montana State (1976) Boise State (1977)
I-AA/FCS	Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana, Idaho, & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana, Montana State, & Idaho State (2002) Montana State, Montana, & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington, Montana State, & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington, UC Davis, & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) Montana (2023)
National championships in bold

v t e 2012 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Appalachian State Bethune-Cookman Cal Poly Central Arkansas Coastal Carolina Colgate Eastern Illinois Eastern Washington Georgia Southern Illinois State Montana State New Hampshire North Dakota State Old Dominion Sam Houston State South Dakota State Stony Brook Villanova Wagner Wofford
Champion – North Dakota State