2012 West Texas A&M Buffaloes football team

The 2012 West Texas A&M Buffaloes football team represented West Texas A&M University in the 2012 NCAA Division II football season as a member of the Lone Star Conference. The Buffaloes ended the regular season with 9–2 record (7–1 in the LSC) which was enough to claim a share of the Lone Star Conference title and to qualify for the NCAA tournament as a six seed in region 4. West Texas A&M went on to win the NCAA Super Region Four Tournament but ended the season with a loss to Winston-Salem State in the National semi-final. With the 57–20 win over Western State on September 8, eighth-year head coach Don Carthel tied former head coach Joe Kerbel for the most wins in school history with 68, passing him a week later with a win over Texas A&M–Kingsville. The Buffaloes had multiple shutouts for first time since 2008. West Texas A&M was ranked No. 24 the initial AFCA poll of the season. == Dismissal of Don Carthel and NCAA investigation == This was Dan Carthel's final season as the Buffaloes head coach as he was fired by the university on August 22, 2013, two weeks before the first game of the 2013 season. According to the university's press release, Carthel misled university officials about buying tickets to a Texas Rangers game for two players on the football team and instructed the players to lie about who bought the tickets. The NCAA launched an investigation that lasted for almost two-and-a-half years; the investigation found other infractions, such as defensive coordinator Colby Carthel providing impermissible benefits to a student-athlete and an academic fraud violation that occurred during the 2014 season. As punishment, the program was placed on probation from March 23, 2016 to March 22, 2019, had to vacate four wins from the 2014 season, and was fined $5,000. == Schedule == == Rankings == == Game summaries == === At No. 6 CSU Pueblo === === Western State (CO) === === Vs. No. 14 Texas A&M–Kingsville === === At Incarnate Word === === Tarleton State === === At Angelo State === === Abilene Christian === === At Eastern New Mexico === === At West Georgia === === No. 10 Midwestern State === === At Texas A&M–Commerce === === At No. 20 Chadron State (NCAA Division II First Round) === === At No. 4 Ashland (NCAA Division II Second Round) === === At No. 1 CSU Pueblo (NCAA Division II Quarterfinal) === === At No. 2 Winston-Salem State (NCAA Division II Semifinal) === == Personnel == == TV and radio == West Texas A&M road games were brotcasted on KAMR-TV. == References ==