The 2012 NCAA Division III football season, part of the college football season organized by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

at the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

level in the United States, began in August 2012, and concluded with the

NCAA Division III Football Championship The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in the Division III playoffs. The Division III championship game, known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl or Stagg Bowl ...

, also known as the Stagg Bowl, in December 2012 at

Salem Football Stadium Salem Stadium is a stadium in Salem, Virginia, United States. It is primarily used for football and hosts the home football games of the Salem High School Spartans. It was built in 1985 and seats 7,157 people. The stadium is part of the James E. ...

in Salem, Virginia. The

Mount Union Purple Raiders The University of Mount Union is a private university in Alliance, Ohio. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until the spring of 2019. In the fall of 2020, Mount Union had an enrollment of 1,958 undergraduat ...

won their eleventh Division III championship by defeating the St. Thomas (MN) Tommies, 28−10. The

Gagliardi Trophy The Gagliardi Trophy was first presented in 1993 to the Outstanding Division III college football player of the year by the Jostens Company and the J-Club of Saint John's University in Minnesota. Since that time, the award has become one of the ...

, given to the most outstanding player in Division III football, was awarded to Scottie Williams, running back from Elmhurst (IL).

Conference changes and new programs

Conference standings

Conference champions

Postseason

The 2012 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the 40th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...

college football. The championship Stagg Bowl game was held at

in Salem, Virginia for the 20th time.

Qualification

Twenty-four conferences met the requirements for an automatic ("Pool A") bid to the playoffs. Besides the NESCAC, which does not participate in the playoffs, two conferences (the SAA and UAA) had no Pool A bid, neither meeting the seven-member requirement. Schools not in Pool A conferences were eligible for Pool B. The number of Pool B bids was determined by calculating the ratio of Pool A conferences to schools in those conferences and applying that ratio to the number of Pool B schools. The 24 Pool A conferences contained 214 schools, an average of 8.9 teams per conference. Fifteen schools were in Pool B, enough for one bid. The remaining seven playoff spots were at-large ("Pool C") teams.

Playoff bracket

* ''Overtime''

References

{{NCAA football season navbox