The 2012 NCAA Division II football season, part of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

in the United States organized by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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 ...

at the Division II level, began on September 1, 2012, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 15, 2012 at

Braly Municipal Stadium Tom Braly Municipal Stadium is a 14,215-seat stadium in Florence, Alabama. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the University of North Alabama Lions and the Florence High School Falcons. It also hosted the NCAA Di ...

Florence, Alabama Florence is a city in, and the county seat of, Lauderdale County, Alabama, United States, in the state's northwestern corner. It is situated along the Tennessee River and is home to the University of North Alabama, the oldest college in the ...

, hosted by the University of North Alabama. The

Valdosta State Blazers The Valdosta State Blazers are the athletic programs of Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. Valdosta State is an NCAA Division II member institution and has been a member of the Gulf South Conference since 1981. Facilities Bazem ...

defeated the

Winston-Salem State Rams The Winston-Salem State Rams are the athletic teams that represent Winston-Salem State University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Rams compete as members of the Central Intercollegiate At ...

, 35–7, to win their third Division II national title. It proved to be the final season for the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). Shortly before the start of the 2012–13 school year, the WVIAC's nine football-playing members announced plans to break away and form a new league. Before the new conference was announced, one of the nine breakaway schools ( Seton Hill) chose instead to join the

Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The conference was originally formed in 1951 as the State Teachers ...

; the remaining eight schools joined with three other football-playing schools and one non-football WVIAC member left out of the original split. The new league, officially unveiled in August 2012 as the

Mountain East Conference The Mountain East Conference (MEC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level and officially began competition on September 1, 2013. It consists of 12 schools, m ...

, began play in 2013. The

Harlon Hill Trophy The Harlon Hill Trophy is an award in American college football given to the individual selected as the most valuable player in NCAA Division II. The award is named for former University of North Alabama and National Football League player Ha ...

was awarded to

Zach Zulli Zach Zulli (born May 1, 1991) is an indoor American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football for the Shippensburg Red Raiders from 2009-2013. Zulli won the Harlon Hill Trophy as the top player in the NCAA Divisio ...

, quarterback from

Shippensburg Shippensburg is a borough in Cumberland and Franklin counties in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Settled in 1730, Shippensburg lies in the Cumberland Valley, southwest of Harrisburg, and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan ...

Conference changes and new programs

*The Great Lakes Valley Conference began football play in 2012. Minot State, Notre Dame (OH), Simon Fraser, Sioux Falls, and William Jewell completed their transitions to Division II and became eligible for the postseason.

Regional realignment

The

GNAC gnac is a pseudonym used by songwriter and music producer Mark Tranmer.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 766 The name is derived from a short story by Italo Calvino in Marcovaldo titled ''Luna e GNAC'' ...

, MIAA, and Great American moved from Super Region 4 to Super Region 3, while the

RMAC The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

and

GLIAC The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) is a competitive college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The GLIAC was founded in June 1972. Its el ...

moved in the opposite direction; the GLVC, newly sponsoring football, was assigned to Super Region 4.

Conference standings

Super Region 1

Super Region 2

Super Region 3

Super Region 4

Conference champions

Postseason

The 2012 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the 39th single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

college football. The championship game was held at

for the 25th time.

Seeded teams

* Ashland * Carson–Newman * CSU Pueblo * Henderson State * Minnesota State–Mankato *

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

* Winston-Salem State *

Valdosta State Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU a ...

Playoff bracket

* ''Home team'' † ''Overtime''

Awards and honors

Harlon Hill Trophy

The

is given to the year's most outstanding player.

References

{{NCAA football season navbox