2012 Frontier Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
# 5 Southern Oregon +^		8	–	2		9	–	3
# 12 Montana Tech +^		8	–	2		8	–	3
# 21 Carroll (MT)		7	–	3		7	–	4
Rocky Mountain		5	–	5		6	–	5
Montana Western		4	–	6		4	–	6
Eastern Oregon		4	–	6		4	–	6
Montana State–Northern		3	–	7		3	–	7
Dickinson State		1	–	9		2	–	9

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

2012 Great Plains Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
# 2 Morningside $		9	–	0		13	–	0
# 12 Northwestern (IA)		7	–	2		9	–	3
# 20 Doane		6	–	3		7	–	3
Dakota Wesleyan		5	–	4		6	–	4
Hastings		5	–	4		6	–	4
RV Nebraska Wesleyan		5	–	4		6	–	4
Concordia (NE)		4	–	5		5	–	6
Midland		3	–	6		4	–	6
Briar Cliff		1	–	8		1	–	10
Dordt		0	–	9		2	–	9

Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

2012 Heart of America Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
# 3 Missouri Valley $		9	–	0		11	–	0
# 11 MidAmerica Nazarene		8	–	1		8	–	3
# 14 Baker		7	–	2		8	–	3
# 23 Evangel		6	–	3		7	–	4
# 22 Benedictine		5	–	4		7	–	4
Graceland		4	–	5		5	–	6
Peru State		3	–	6		5	–	6
Central Methodist		2	–	7		2	–	8
Avila		1	–	8		2	–	9
		0	–	9		1	–	10

Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

2012 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
# 16 Ottawa $		8	–	1		8	–	3
# 18 Tabor		7	–	1		8	–	2
Kansas Wesleyan		6	–	3		6	–	5
Saint Mary		6	–	3		6	–	5
Friends		5	–	4		6	–	5
McPherson		4	–	4		4	–	5
Southwestern (KS)		3	–	6		4	–	7
Sterling		3	–	6		3	–	7
Bethany (KS)		2	–	7		4	–	7
Bethel (KS)		0	–	9		0	–	10

Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

2012 Mid-South Conference football standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
East Division
# 8 Georgetown (KY) x^		5	–	0		10	–	1
# 7 Cumberlands (KY) ^		4	–	1		10	–	2
# 25 Kentucky Christian		3	–	2		7	–	4
Union (KY)		1	–	4		4	–	7
Pikeville		1	–	4		3	–	8
Virginia–Wise		1	–	4		3	–	8
West Division
# 9 Bethel (TN) x		6	–	0		9	–	4
#19 Cumberland (TN)		4	–	2		8	–	3
BelhavenBelhaven		4	–	2		6	–	5
Faulkner		4	–	2		6	–	5
Campbellsville		2	–	4		3	–	8
Lindsey Wilson		1	–	5		3	–	8
Bluefield		0	–	6		0	–	11

Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

2012 Mid-States Football Association standings
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
Mideast League
# 1 Marian (IN) x^		4	–	1		12	–	1
# 4 Saint Xavier x^		4	–	1		11	–	2
# 6 Saint Francis (IN) ^		4	–	1		9	–	3
Siena Heights		2	–	3		4	–	6
Taylor		1	–	4		4	–	6
Concordia (MI)		0	–	5		0	–	9
Midwest League
# 10 Saint Ambrose x		5	–	1		9	–	2
# 15 William Penn x		5	–	1		9	–	3
# 17 Grand View x		5	–	1		8	–	3
St. Francis (IL)		3	–	3		6	–	5
Trinity International		1	–	5		4	–	7
Waldorf		1	–	5		4	–	7
Olivet Nazarene		1	–	5		3	–	8
Robert Morris (IL)		0	–	0		8	–	3

Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

2012 NAIA independents football records
	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
(RV) Robert Morris (IL)			–			8	–	3
Valley City			–			7	–	3
Bacone			–			6	–	3
Langston			–			6	–	4
Edward Waters			–			5	–	5
Jamestown			–			4	–	6
Mayville State			–			4	–	6
Webber International			–			4	–	6
SW Assemblies of God			–			4	–	6
Lindenwood–Belleville			–			4	–	6
Menlo			–			4	–	6
Wayland Baptist			–			2	–	7
Point			–			2	–	8
Dakota State			–			2	–	9
Texas College			–			2	–	9
Ave Maria			–			1	–	7
Haskell Indian Nations			–			1	–	8

Rankings from NAIA Coaches' Poll

The 2012 NAIA Football National Championship was played on December 13, 2012 as the 57th Annual Russell Athletic NAIA Football National Championship. The game matched the once-beaten and 5th-ranked Knights from Marian University against the undefeated and 3rd-ranked Mustangs from Morningside College. The game matched two teams making their first appearance in the championship game, assuring someone would win the title for the first time. The teams proved to be evenly matched, and the outcome was not decided until the winning points were scored in the first round of overtime. With their winning field goal, the Marion Knights prevailed, 30-27 in the first overtime game in NAIA football championship history.

The championship game was played at Barron Stadium in Rome, Georgia. A total of sixteen teams participated in the single-elimination tournament from across the country. Placement in the tournament was based on the final edition of the 2012 NAIA Coaches' Poll. This year's field included the top 15 teams from the final poll as well as #18 Bethel (TN). Two teams were bypassed as a result of the automatic berth granted to Bethel, champions of the Mid-South Conference West Division.

Missouri Valley finished the regular season with its third consecutive conference championship and an undefeated 10–0 record, while Ottawa entered into the game with its second consecutive conference championship and a record of 8–2. Missouri Valley earned the home field advantage for the first round.

Missouri Valley scored 15 points in the first quarter and held Ottawa to zero, and held that lead for the entire game. Missouri Valley averaged 6.9 yards per play while holding Ottawa to 2.7. Missouri Valley's 487 total yards was made up of 229 yards rushing and 258 passing. With 13:46 left in the second quarter, Ottawa scored and managed to bring the score within eight points, but Missouri Valley pulled further away to a victorious final score of 56–21.

Bethel was a big underdog, favored to lose to Georgetown by 30 points. However, they came into the game and won on a fake PAT after a 47-yard Hail Mary that appeared to only bring the game to overtime. The whole sequence in the final minute of the game was phenomenal. After Bethel was stopped on fourth down near mid-field, they still stopped Georgetown and forced a punt. However, Georgetown was able to run down the clock to 44 seconds left and downed the punt at the 6-yard line, leaving Bethel the other 94 yards to go and no timeouts. Some fans started leaving and most assumed that the game was basically done. However, after two quick first down completions, Bethel had 31 seconds left on their 45, and some hope started to show. Ultimately, it came down to 4th and 2 on the Georgetown 47-yard line with 7 seconds left, an obvious Hail Mary situation when you are down 7 points. The pass was aimed at the front of the right side of the endzone. It was knocked down, yet that deflection was caught at the 6-yard line. Instead of trying to charge for the endzone right in front of him, the receiver saw another receiver running to the middle part of the endzone. He went unnoticed by the defense, as they thought that all of the receivers would be where the ball was thrown. The receiver with the ball casually threw it back to the open receiver, who went easily into the endzone. The mostly Georgetown fan filled crowd was in stunned silence, besides the few Bethel fans. Bethel got their special teams on the field rather quickly, considering that most players were jumping around and celebrating the play before. Georgetown was out of timeouts and couldn't "ice the kicker" by calling a timeout and allowing the kicker to see the importance of the kick, making him nervous. However, there was no kick; Bethel pulled of a fake PAT kick, where the lineman on the edge of the line ran out into the open field, as Georgetown didn't have time to fully get itself set. In fact, there was a penalty on Georgetown for too many men on the field, which Bethel obviously declined. After the game, Bethel coach Roger Diplomatie said that the lateral on the Hail Mary wasn't designed to happen, however it was planned for an extra receiver to be away from the pass for exactly what happened. As for the PAT, Roger said that he only told the special teams players on the field that they were going to do the fake. He did this as to avoid the sideline going serious, knowing that it is a tough play to execute if the defense does a different scheme than he had thought; in fact most players didn't even realize that they had gone for two because they assumed that they were going to get the easy one point kick. Most players admitted their surprise, though they were just happy that they still won. Coach Roger said that "Hadn't we gone for two, the crowd could have gotten loud again and [Georgetown] likely would have beaten us in overtime... sometimes, things just can't last too long." The game set multiple records, being only the third time that an 18 seed beat a seed in the first round, and it spoiled Georgetown's first postseason appearance as a 1 seed. It set a record for most safeties scored in a postseason game with one for each team and they were the first points scored, oddly enough, which caused the score of 2-2 to be held in a game for the first known time in college of professional history. I had the most combined touchdowns (11) in a postseason game since 2001. Georgetown kick return specialist Anthony Henson became the first player to return two kicks 95+ yards in the same game. It was also the first time that each team scored at least twice on offence, defense, and special teams (the fake PAT counts as special teams).

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