2012 Southeastern Conference football season
League	NCAA Division I FBS
Sport	football
Duration	August 30, 2012 through January 7, 2013
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN2, CBS, and SEC Network
2013 NFL Draft
Top draft pick	Luke Joeckel (Texas A&M)
Picked by	Jacksonville Jaguars, 2nd overall
Regular season
East champions	Georgia
East runners-up	Florida
West champions	Alabama
West runners-up	LSU, Texas A&M
SEC Championship Game
Champions	Alabama
Runners-up	Georgia
Football seasons
← 2011 2013 →

The 2012 Southeastern Conference football season began on August 30 with South Carolina visiting Vanderbilt, and concluded with the BCS National Championship Game on January 7, 2013. It was also the first season of play for former Big 12 Conference members Texas A&M and Missouri. Texas A&M plays in the West Division, while Missouri plays in the East Division, although, geographically, Missouri is one of the conference's westernmost teams.

Preseason

Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino was fired in early April for lying about his affair with an Arkansas employee after a motorcycle accident that he had on April that left him four broken ribs, a cracked vertebra in his neck and numerous abrasions on his face.^[1] In the press conference announcing the termination, Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said, "(Petrino) made the decision to mislead the public, (and it) adversely affected the university and the football program." In Petrino's place, Assistant Coach Taver Johnson will serve as interim coach through the end of spring practice. After the firing of Bobby Petrino in April 2012, there was considerable media speculation that Smith would return to Arkansas. This was confirmed on April 23 when multiple media outlets reported that Smith had indeed agreed to succeed Petrino. He was introduced as Arkansas' 29th full-time head coach the next day. Smith signed a 10-month contract, leading to speculation that he was only taking the post on an interim basis for the 2012 season. The Razorbacks' formal announcement described him as "head coach", without any qualifiers; however, it also indicated that Smith's hiring would allow Arkansas to hire "a head coach for the future of the program" in a more appropriate timeframe following the 2012 season.^[2]

At the end of the 2011 season it was announced that Head Coach Houston Nutt resigned from the position of head coach at Ole Miss. His resignation became official once the season ended.^[3] In his place, Ole Miss hired Arkansas State Head Coach Hugh Freeze.^[4]

Preseason All-SEC

2012 Pre-season Coaches All-SEC^[5]