2012 Northern Colorado Bears football team

The 2012 Northern Colorado Bears football team represented the University of Northern Colorado in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Earnest Collins Jr. and played their home games at Nottingham Field. They are a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in Big Sky play to finish in a three way tie for fifth place.

2012 Northern Colorado Bears football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
2012 record	5–6 (4–4 Big Sky)
Head coach	Earnest Collins Jr. (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Michael Armour (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Zach Shay (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Nottingham Field (Capacity: 6,500)

2012 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					11	–	3
No. 2 Montana State +^		7	–	1					11	–	2
No. 12 Cal Poly +^		7	–	1					9	–	3
No. 20 Northern Arizona		6	–	2					8	–	3
Sacramento State		4	–	4					6	–	5
Northern Colorado		4	–	4					5	–	6
Southern Utah		4	–	4					5	–	6
North Dakota		3	–	5					5	–	6
Montana		3	–	5					5	–	6
UC Davis		3	–	5					4	–	7
Portland State		2	–	6					3	–	8
Weber State		2	–	6					2	–	9
Idaho State		0	–	8					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	5:15 pm	at Utah*	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City, UT	P12N	L 0–41	45,273
September 8	1:30 pm	Colorado Mesa*	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ALT/Big Sky TV	W 40–3	5,136
September 15	3:00 pm	at Sacramento State*	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	Big Sky TV	L 17–28	7,408
September 22	1:30 pm	at No. 2 Montana State	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	Max Media/Big Sky TV	L 16–41	18,637
October 6	1:30 pm	Montana	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	RTRM	L 17–40	4,751
October 13	7:00 pm	at No. 15 Cal Poly	Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	KSBY/Big Sky TV	L 28–56	9,382
October 20	1:30 pm	Idaho State	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Big Sky TV	W 52–14	4,155
October 27	1:30 pm	No. 13 Northern Arizona	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Big Sky TV	L 10–12	3,780
November 3	2:00 pm	at Portland State	Jeld-Wen Field Portland, OR	Big Sky TV	W 32–28	5,077
November 10	1:30 pm	at Weber State	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT	Big Sky TV	W 42–34	4,837
November 17	12:00 pm	North Dakota	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Big Sky TV	W 28–27	3,418
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from The Sports Network FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

Despite Sacramento State also being a member of the Big Sky, their meeting on September 15 was considered a non-conference game.

• Source: Official Schedule

Game summaries

@ Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
Utes	0	21	7	13	41

Colorado Mesa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mavericks	0	3	0	0	3
Bears	7	3	16	14	40

The win is the Bears first win since the final game of the 2010 season against Portland State, a span of 12 games. It is also just their second win in their last 21 games.

@ Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	3	7	0	7	17
Hornets	7	7	7	7	28

@ Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	13	3	0	16
#2 Bobcats	21	10	7	3	41

Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Grizzlies	0	10	14	16	40
Bears	0	0	10	7	17

@ Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	0	0	14	28
#15 Mustangs	14	14	14	14	56

Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	0	7	0	7	14
Bears	14	14	24	0	52

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
#13 Lumberjacks	2	7	0	3	12
Bears	0	3	0	7	10

@ Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	3	7	15	7	32
Vikings	6	15	7	0	28

@ Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	9	19	0	14	42
Wildcats	7	10	3	14	34

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
North Dakota	14	10	3	0	27
Bears	7	14	7	0	28

References