The 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 15, 2012 at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho in the United States. The sixteenth edition of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl began at 2:30 p.m. MST and aired on ESPN. It featured the Toledo Rockets from the Mid-American Conference against the Western Athletic Conference champion Utah State Aggies, and was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. The Rockets accepted their invitation after earning a 9–2 record in the regular season, while the Aggies accepted theirs after earning a 10–2 record. Utah State won the game 41–15.

Since 2001, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl has given an automatic bid to a team from the Western Athletic Conference. However, this was the final year of the bid, as the WAC ceased sponsorship of football following the season. Coincidentally, the WAC's bid was given after the Big West Conference (whose champion had the automatic bid) ceased sponsoring football following the 2000 game.

The Mid-American Conference has held their automatic bid since 2010, following the Toronto-based International Bowl ceasing operations.

This was the first meeting between these two teams.

In one of the more successful seasons in the conference's history, the Rockets were one of the MAC's more successful teams, finishing with a 6–2 conference record, good for a tie for second place in the West Division (though losing the tiebreaker to the Ball State Cardinals). After the season, the Rockets accepted their invitation to the 2012 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

...
Wikipedia