The 2012 Southeastern Conference football season began on August 30 with

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

visiting Vanderbilt, and concluded with the

BCS National Championship Game The BCS National Championship Game was a postseason college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), first played in the 1998 college football season as one of four des ...

on January 7, 2013. It was also the first season of play for former

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

members

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

and

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. Texas A&M plays in the West Division, while Missouri plays in the East Division, although, geographically, Missouri is one of the conference's westernmost teams.

Preseason

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

head coach

Bobby Petrino Robert Patrick Petrino (born March 10, 1961) is an American college football coach who is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Arkansas. He served as the head football coach at Missouri State from 2020 to 2022. P ...

was fired in early April for lying about his affair with an Arkansas employee after a motorcycle accident that he had on April that left him four broken ribs, a cracked vertebra in his neck and numerous abrasions on his face. In the press conference announcing the termination, Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said, "(Petrino) made the decision to mislead the public, (and it) adversely affected the university and the football program." In Petrino's place, Assistant Coach Taver Johnson will serve as interim coach through the end of spring practice. After the firing of Bobby Petrino in April 2012, there was considerable media speculation that Smith would return to Arkansas. This was confirmed on April 23 when multiple media outlets reported that Smith had indeed agreed to succeed Petrino. He was introduced as Arkansas' 29th full-time head coach the next day. Smith signed a 10-month contract, leading to speculation that he was only taking the post on an interim basis for the 2012 season. The Razorbacks' formal announcement described him as "head coach", without any qualifiers; however, it also indicated that Smith's hiring would allow Arkansas to hire "a head coach for the future of the program" in a more appropriate timeframe following the 2012 season. At the end of the 2011 season it was announced that Head Coach

Houston Nutt Houston Dale Nutt Jr. (born October 14, 1957) is an American former college football coach and player. He formerly worked for CBS Sports as a college football studio analyst. Previously, he served as the head football coach at Murray State Univer ...

resigned from the position of head coach at Ole Miss. His resignation became official once the season ended. In his place, Ole Miss hired Arkansas State Head Coach

Hugh Freeze Danny Hugh Freeze Jr. (born September 27, 1969) is an American college football coach. Since 2023, he has served as the head coach for Auburn University. A successful high school football coach at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tenne ...

Preseason All-SEC

2012 Pre-season Coaches All-SEC

Rankings

Regular season

All times Eastern time. SEC teams in bold. Rankings reflect that of the AP poll for that week until week eight when the BCS rankings will be used.

Week One

Texas A&M's matchup with

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

was rescheduled to October 13 by agreement of the schools due to the potential impact of

Hurricane Isaac The name Isaac (or the variant Isaack) has been used for six tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean and for one in the South Pacific Ocean, and has been used for one extratropical european windstorm. In the Atlantic: * Tropical Storm Isaac (1988) ...

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

, where the game was to be held. Players of the week:

Week Two

Players of the week:

Week Three

Players of the week:

Week Four

Players of the week:

Week Five

Week off: Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt. Players of the week:

Week Six

Week off: Alabama, Tennessee. Players of the week:

Week Seven

Week off: Georgia Players of the week:

Week Eight

Week off: Arkansas, Ole Miss, Missouri. Players of the week:

Week Nine

Week off: LSU. Players of the week:

Week Ten

Week off: South Carolina. Players of the week:

Week Eleven

Week off: Kentucky. Players of the week:

Week Twelve

Players of the week:

Week Thirteen

Players of the week:

Week Fourteen/SEC Championship

SEC vs AQ-conference matchups

Rankings from the AP Poll

Bowl games

Nine SEC teams became bowl eligible, and all were selected for post-season competition. SEC teams are bolded.

Awards and honors

National awards

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

: Johnny Manziel,

* Archie Griffin Award (MVP): Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M * AP Player of the Year: Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M *

Chic Harley Award The Touchdown Club of Columbus was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1956 by Sam B. Nicola at the request of state auditor James A. Rhodes, who later became governor of the state. Nicola served as the club's president until his death in 1993. More ...

(Player of the Year): Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M * SN Player of the Year: Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M * Campbell Trophy ("academic Heisman"): Barrett Jones,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Davey O'Brien Award The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National C ...

(quarterback): Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M *

Manning Award The Manning Award has been presented annually since the 2004 football season to the collegiate American football quarterback as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee to be the best in the United States. It is the only quarterback award that inc ...

(quarterback): Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M * Dave Rimington Trophy (center): Barrett Jones, Alabama *

Outland Trophy The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that g ...

(interior lineman): Luke Joeckel, Texas A&M * Jack Lambert Trophy (linebacker): Jarvis Jones,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

Ted Hendricks Award The Ted Hendricks Award is given annually to college football's top defensive end. The award is named after Ted Hendricks, a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame, and is presented by his own foundation. I ...

(defensive end): Jadeveon Clowney,

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athle ...

(defensive back):

Johnthan Banks Johnthan Shuntay Banks (born October 3, 1989) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Mississippi State, where he received All-American honors. ...

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

Consensus All-Americans

*QB – Johnny Manziel,

-- CONSENSUS -- (AP, FWAA, TSN, WCFF, CBS, ESPN, Scout, SI) *OL – Luke Joeckel,

-- UNANIMOUS -- (AFCA, AP, FWAA, TSN, WCFF, CBS, ESPN, PFW, Scout, SI) *OL – Barrett Jones,

-- CONSENSUS -- (AP, FWAA, TSN, WCFF, CBS, ESPN, Scout, SI) *OL – Chance Warmack,

-- UNANIMOUS -- (AFCA, AP, FWAA, TSN, WCFF, CBS, ESPN, PFW, Scout, SI) *DL – Jadeveon Clowney,

-- UNANIMOUS -- (AFCA, AP, FWAA, TSN, WCFF, CBS, ESPN, PFW, Scout, SI) *DL – Damontre Moore,

-- CONSENSUS -- (AFCA, FWAA, WCFF, ESPN) *LB – Jarvis Jones,

-- UNANIMOUS -- (AFCA, AP, FWAA, TSN, WCFF, CBS, ESPN, PFW, Scout, SI) *LB – C. J. Mosley,

-- CONSENSUS -- (AFCA, AP, TSN, WCFF, CBS, Scout, SI) *DB – Dee Milliner,

-- UNANIMOUS -- (AFCA, AP, FWAA, TSN, WCFF, CBS, ESPN, PFW, Scout) *DB –

Eric Reid Eric Todd Reid Jr. (born December 10, 1991) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for LSU Tigers, receiving consensus All-American recognition. He ...

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

-- CONSENSUS -- (AFCA, FWAA, ESPN, Scout)

All-SEC Teams

The Southeastern Conference coaches voted for the All-SEC teams after the regular season concluded. Prior to the 2012 SEC Championship Game the teams were released. Alabama had the most representatives on the 2012 All-SEC Coaches’ Football Team, the league office announced on Tuesday. Alabama had eight total members, including six on the first team. Florida was close behind with seven, while Eastern Division Champion Georgia and Tennessee had six each. Ten of the 14 SEC schools had a member on the first-team All-SEC squad. Alabama led with six, while Florida had five and Texas A&M with four. LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M had five total members on the annual list, while Mississippi State was next with four total selections. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players.

NFL Draft

Home attendance

Games played at Arkansas' secondary home stadium War Memorial Stadium, capacity: 54,120. Attendance was 84,644 for the Florida vs. Georgia game in Jacksonville

References

{{2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season navbox