2012 Montana State Bobcats football team

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.

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	Conf.							Overall
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

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^[2]

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

@ Drake^[3]

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

See also: 2012 Drake Bulldogs football team

Stephen F. Austin^[4]

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

See also: 2012 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team

Northern Colorado^[5]

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

See also: 2012 Northern Colorado Bears football team

@ Southern Utah^[6]

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

See also: 2012 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

@ UC Davis^[7]

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

See also: 2012 UC Davis Aggies football team

Eastern Washington^[8]

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

See also: 2012 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

North Dakota^[9]

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

See also: 2012 University of North Dakota football team

@ Sacramento State^[10]

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

See also: 2012 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Portland State^[11]

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

See also: 2012 Portland State Vikings football team

@ Montana^[12]

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

See also: 2012 Montana Grizzlies football team and Brawl of the Wild

FCS Playoffs

Stony Brook–FCS Playoffs Second Round^[13]

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

See also: 2012 Stony Brook Seawolves football team

Sam Houston State–FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals^[14]

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

See also: 2012 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team

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