2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl
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| 2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 24th Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 29, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Sun Devil Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Tempe, Arizona | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Offensive: Le'Veon Bell (RB, Michigan State) Defensive: William Gholston (DE, Michigan State) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | TCU by 2[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Jack Folliard (Pac-12) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 44,617 [2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Brad Nessler (Play-by-Play) Todd Blackledge (Analyst) Holly Rowe (sidelines) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 3.0[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, the 24th edition of the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, although the first played under that name, was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 29, 2012 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona as part of the 2012–13 NCAA Bowl season.
The game was telecast at 8:15 p.m. MT on ESPN. It featured the Michigan State Spartans of the Big Ten Conference against the TCU Horned Frogs of the Big 12 Conference. Down 13–0 at the half, the Spartans rallied back to win 17–16, having taken the lead for good with only 1:01 remaining in the contest.
TCU
This game marked the second meeting of the two teams. Their first meeting was in 1953, which the Spartans won 26–19. The Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl had fourth selection of Big Ten teams and third selection of Big 12 teams, both after BCS selections.[4] From the Big Ten, conference champion Wisconsin (Rose), Nebraska (Capital One), Michigan (Outback), and Northwestern (Gator) were already selected, and Penn State and Ohio State were ineligible due to NCAA sanctions.[5][6] From the Big 12, conference champion Kansas State (Fiesta), Oklahoma (Cotton Bowl Classic), and Texas (Alamo) were selected before TCU.[5]
TCU finished the 2011 season 11–2 and ranked #13 in the Coaches Poll and #14 in the AP Poll. In 2012, they changed conferences from the Mountain West Conference to the Big 12 Conference. They entered the season ranked #17 in the Coaches Poll, but after losses to Iowa State and Texas Tech they spent the rest of the season unranked. Like the Spartans, they failed to win any home conference games. They still were able to accumulate a 7–5 record, enough to send them to their eighth consecutive bowl game. In that bowl streak, the Horned Frogs had only lost once prior to this matchup.
The 2011 Horned Frogs were known more for their defense than offense. Junior quarterback Casey Pachall left the team after four games due to an arrest for suspicion of DWI, putting the offense into the hands of freshman Trevone Boykin. Boykin ended the regular season with 15 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions. TCU's rushing attack was last in the Big 12, averaging 3.9 yards per carry. Defensively, the Horned Frogs led the Big 12, ceding an average of only 332.0 yards per game, ranking them 18th in the nation. The Horned Frogs defense was led by AP Big 12 defensive player of the year Devonte Fields, a freshman.
Michigan State
Michigan State's 2012 campaign was also a letdown from the prior year's. That year the Spartans went 11–3, continued a two-year undefeated streak at home, advanced to the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game, defeated SEC powerhouse Georgia in the Outback Bowl, and ended the season ranked #10 in the Coaches Poll. However, the departure of key offensive players—notably Kirk Cousins and Keshawn Martin, who were both selected in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL draft—proved costly for the 2012 Spartans. After surging to a #10 ranking in the Coaches Poll, the Spartans were favorites to be the Big 10's representative for the Rose Bowl. A defeat at Spartan Stadium to Notre Dame snapped their home win streak, and the Spartans stumbled into conference play with a come-from-behind win over Eastern Michigan, who ended the season 2–10. The Spartans went 3–5 in conference play, losing all of their home games. Those five losses were by a combined 13 points. The lone bright spot in that period came when Michigan State snapped a 21-game home winning streak for Wisconsin by beating the eventual Rose Bowl representatives, giving the Spartans their first win in Camp Randall Stadium since 2001. MSU only earned bowl eligibility by defeating Minnesota in the final game of the season.
Offensively, the Spartans were led by tailback Le'Veon Bell, who ended the regular season with 1,648 yards for 11 touchdowns, averaging 137.3 yards per game and earning 834 of his yards after contact. The Spartans were ranked 9th in the Big Ten for total offense, averaging 370.3 yards per game. Michigan State's offense managed only 21 touchdowns in 42 red zone trips this season and only 25 overall. Spartan quarterback Andrew Maxwell saw almost all the action that year, throwing for 2,578 yards and 13 touchdowns with a 53% completion rating. Backup quarterback Connor Cook only saw action in two games, going 5 for 6 with no touchdowns and one interception, which was returned for a score.
On the defensive side, Michigan State led the Big Ten, giving up 273.3 yards per game and 16.3 points per game. They ranked in the top 10 nationally for total defense, scoring defense, rushing defense, and passing efficiency and yardage defenses. Junior linebacker Max Bullough led the Spartans with 101 tackles, while William Gholston's 3.5 sacks and Darqueze Dennard's three interceptions were also team leaders. Senior cornerback Johnny Adams, who also had three interceptions, was unable to play in the bowl game due to an injury. The Spartans earned 13 interceptions during the regular season, 3rd best in the Big Ten.