Division West Division AP No. 22 | Coaches No. 24 2012 record 12–2 (8–0 MAC) | |
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Conference Mid-American Conference Head coach Dave Doeren (regular season)
Rod Carey (bowl) | ||
The 2012 Northern Illinois Huskies football team represented Northern Illinois University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Huskies competed in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. They were led by second-year head coach Dave Doeren for the regular season and Rod Carey in the 2013 Orange Bowl. They played their home games at Huskie Stadium. They finished the season 12–2, 8–0 in MAC play to win MAC West Division Title. With their win over Kent State in the MAC Championship Game on November 30, NIU moved to 12–1, the most regular season wins in the program's 113-year history.
Since the MAC was a non-automatic qualifying (non-AQ) conference, its conference champion had to finish 16th or higher in the BCS ranking and be ranked ahead of at least one AQ conference champion to qualify for a BCS game. With their MAC Championship, the Huskies moved to No. 15 in the final Bowl Championship Series rankings, while Big East champion Louisville was ranked No. 21. As a result, Northern Illinois received a BCS bid to the Orange Bowl against Florida State. It was the first major-bowl appearance in school history, as well as the first-ever major-bowl appearance for a MAC team. Head coach Doeren did not coach the Huskies in the Orange Bowl after accepting the head coaching job at North Carolina State. Co-offensive coordinator Rod Carey was named his successor, and coached the bowl game. The Huskies lost to Florida State 10–31.
The season marked the Huskies' fifth consecutive trip to a bowl game.