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 (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) 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. North Dakota State beat Sam Houston State for the second year in a row, 39-13, to repeat as champions.

FCS team wins over FBS teams
August 30: Eastern Washington 20, Idaho 3 August 30: McNeese State 27, Middle Tennessee 21 September 1: Tennessee–Martin 20, Memphis 17 September 1: Youngstown State 31, Pittsburgh 17 September 8: Illinois State 31, Eastern Michigan 14 September 8: North Dakota State 22, Colorado State 7 September 8: Northern Arizona 17, UNLV 14 September 8: Sacramento State 30, Colorado 28 September 15: Cal Poly 24, Wyoming 22 September 29: Stony Brook 23, Army 3

Conference changes and new programs
The Great West Conference dropped football after the 2011 season.

No teams played as independents in 2012, for the first time in the history of Division I-AA/FCS.

Other conference winners
Note: Records are regular-season only, and do not include playoff games.

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

NCAA Division I playoff bracket
* Home team   † Overtime

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.

End of season

 * In addition to the above changes, Southern named its interim head coach Dawson Odums as permanent head coach on December 14.