The 2012 Big Ten Conference football season was the 117th season for the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. The conference began its season on September 1, as each of the conference's teams began their respective 2012 season of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision competition. This was the league's second season with a divisional format and a championship game.

Rankings

Spring games

April 14 *Illinois *Indiana *Iowa *Michigan *Nebraska (canceled) *Northwestern *Purdue April 21 *Minnesota *

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

*Penn State April 28 *Michigan State *Wisconsin

Schedule

All times Eastern time. Rankings = AP / Coaches.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14 – Big Ten Championship Game

Homecoming games

September 29 *Minnesota @ Iowa (Iowa's record in homecoming games is 54-41-5) *Wisconsin @ Nebraska 7 pm CT ABC,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

, or

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

(Nebraska's record in homecoming games is 75-22-4) October 6 *Michigan State @ Indiana (Indiana's record in homecoming games is 44-49-6) *Nebraska @ Ohio State 8 pm ET ABC,

, or

*Northwestern @ Penn State (Penn State's record in homecoming games is 66-21-5) October 13 *Illinois @ Michigan (Michigan's record in homecoming games is 84-27) *Iowa @ Michigan State (Michigan State's record in homecoming games is 63-30-3) *Northwestern @ Minnesota *Wisconsin @ Purdue (Purdue's record in homecoming games is 50-35-4) October 27 *Indiana @ Illinois (Illinois' record in homecoming games is 44-55-2) *Iowa @ Northwestern *Michigan State @ Wisconsin

Bowl games

The Big Ten has agreements with the following bowls: ''Two name changes for Big Ten bowls this year. The Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl used to be known as the Insight Bowl and the Heart of Dallas Bowl used to be known as the TicketCity Bowl.'' ''With only seven bowl eligible teams, the Big Ten is unable to place a team in the eighth bowl game they are contracted with, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.''

2013 NFL Draft

Records against FBS conferences

2012 records against FBS conferences: ''Through January 1, 2013''

Players of the week

Players of the Year

All-Conference Players

Coaches All-Conference Selections HONORABLE MENTION: Illinois: Akeem Spence; Indiana: Ted Bolser, Dan Feeney, Cody Latimer, Jason Spriggs; Iowa: C.J. Fiedorowicz, Anthony Hitchens, Mike Meyer, Matt Tobin; Michigan: J.T. Floyd,

Jeremy Gallon Jeremy Jermaine Gallon (born February 9, 1990) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan Wolverines football, Michig ...

, Brendan Gibbons, Will Hagerup, Roy Roundtree, Jake Ryan; Michigan State: Denicos Allen, William Gholston, Isaiah Lewis, Chris McDonald, Marcus Rush; Minnesota: Michael Carter; Nebraska: Ben Cotton, Ciante Evans, Justin Jackson, P.J. Smith; Northwestern: Ibraheim Campbell, Brian Mulroe, Tyler Scott, Patrick Ward; Ohio State: C.J. Barnett, Travis Howard, Corey Linsley,

Jack Mewhort Jack Mewhort (born August 30, 1991) is a former American football guard who played four seasons for Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State and was drafted by the Colts in the second rou ...

, Andrew Norwell; Penn State: Adrian Amos, Deion Barnes, Kyle Carter, Mike Farrell, Matt McGloin, Stephon Morris; Purdue: Antavian Edison, Josh Johnson, Cody Webster; Wisconsin: Beau Allen, Marcus Cromartie, Travis Frederick, David Gilbert, Ethan Hemer, Drew Meyer, Devin Smith, Dezmen Southward, Mike Taylor ''There was a tie among the Coaches for the Offensive Guard honor, so three players received the first team honor and only one on the second team. Coaches also selected three second-team running backs and three second-team defensive linemen.'' Media All-Conference Selections HONORABLE MENTION: Illinois: Jonathan Brown, Michael Buchanan, Terry Hawthorne, Graham Pocic, Akeem Spence, Hugh Thornton; Indiana: Ted Bolser, Mitch Ewald, Dan Feeney, Greg Heban, Will Matte, Jason Spriggs, Shane Wynn; Iowa: C.J. Fiedorowicz, James Ferentz, Joe Gaglione, Anthony Hitchens, Mike Meyer, James Morris; Michigan: William Campbell, J.T. Floyd, Devin Funchess, Jeremy Gallon, Brendan Gibbons, Jordan Kovacs, Patrick Omameh, Denard Robinson, Craig Roh, Roy Roundtree; Michigan State: Denicos Allen, Isaiah Lewis, Chris McDonald, Marcus Rush; Minnesota: Michael Carter, Ra'Shede Hageman, Troy Stoudermire; Nebraska: Ameer Abdullah, Will Compton, Ben Cotton, Ciante Evans, Justin Jackson, Brett Maher (punter), Kyler Reed, P.J. Smith, Baker Steinkuhler; Northwestern: Chi Chi Ariguzo, Ibraheim Campbell, Kain Colter, David Nwabuisi, Damien Proby, Tyler Scott, Patrick Ward; Ohio State: C.J. Barnett, Corey Brown, Christian Bryant, Reid Fragel, Corey Linsley, Etienne Sabino; Penn State: Adrian Amos, Deion Barnes, Mike Farrell, Matt McGloin, Stephon Morris, Sean Stanley, Zach Zwinak; Purdue: Ricardo Allen, Antavian Edison, Landon Feichter, Cody Webster; Wisconsin: Beau Allen, Chris Borland, Marcus Cromartie, David Gilbet, Ryan Groy, Drew Meyer, Jacob Pedersen, Dezmen Southward

First Team All-Americans

There are many outlets that award All-America honors in football. The NCAA uses five official selectors to also determine Consensus and Unanimous All-America honors. The five teams used by the NCAA to compile the consensus team are from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

, the AFCA, the

FWAA The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media ou ...

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

and the

Walter Camp Football Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...

. A point system is used to calculate the consensus honors. The point system consists of three points for first team, two points for second team and three points for third team. No honorable mention or fourth team or lower are used in the computation. The teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named a Consensus All-American. If there is a tie at a position in football for first team then the players who are tied shall be named to the team. A player named first-team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is recognized as a Unanimous All-American.

Academic All-Americans

The following players were first team

Academic All-American The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

Rex Burkhead Rex Burkhead (born July 2, 1990) is an American football running back for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Nebraska and was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2013 ...

(NEB), Patrick Ward (NW), and Pete Massaro (PSU) all repeated from the 2011 first team. John Urschel (PSU) and Adam Replogle (IND) were also first team selections.

National Award Winners

* Montee Ball, Wisconsin –

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football Le ...

Attendance

Head coaches

* Tim Beckman, Illinois *

Kevin R. Wilson Kevin Reece Wilson (born October 23, 1961) is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the head coach at the University of Tulsa. He will continue to serve as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State Buckeyes football, ...

, Indiana *

Kirk Ferentz Kirk James Ferentz (born August 1, 1955) is an American football coach. He is the current head football coach at the University of Iowa, a position he has held since the 1999 season. From 1990 to 1992, Ferentz was the head football coach at the ...

, Iowa *

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

, Michigan * Mark Dantonio, Michigan State *

Jerry Kill Gerald R. Kill (born August 24, 1961) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at New Mexico State University. He played college football at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas from 1979 to 1982. Kill served as the head ...

, Minnesota * Bo Pelini, Nebraska *

Pat Fitzgerald Patrick William Fitzgerald Jr. (born December 2, 1974) is the current head coach of the Northwestern University Wildcats football team. He was selected after the unexpected death of Randy Walker and announced at a press conference on July 7, 2 ...

, Northwestern *

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

, Ohio State * Bill O'Brien, Penn State *

Danny Hope Charles Daniel Hope (born January 7, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Eastern Kentucky University from 2003 to 2007, and Purdue University from 2009 to 2012, compiling a career colle ...

, Purdue *

Bret Bielema Bret Arnold Bielema (; born January 13, 1970) is currently the head American football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bielema served as the head football coach at of the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2006 to 2012 ...

, Wisconsin

Notes

References

{{2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season navbox