2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl
The 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl was a college football bowl game held on December 31, 2012, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. With sponsorship from Chick-fil-A, it was the 45th edition of the game known throughout most of its history as the Peach Bowl. The game began at 7:30 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN. It featured the LSU Tigers from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) against the Clemson Tigers from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. Both Tigers accepted an invitation to the game after achieving a 10–2 regular season record.
| 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 45th Peach Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 31, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Georgia Dome | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Atlanta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Tajh Boyd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | LSU by 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | David Witvoet (Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 68,027 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham and Jeannine Edwards | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
This was not the first time the two Tigers have met in the Chick-fil-A Bowl; the 1996 game also pitted them against each other, with LSU topping Clemson by a score of 10–7. Their first meeting was the 1959 Sugar Bowl, which LSU won in a 7–0 shutout after being named the 1958 national champion in the end-of-season AP Poll and Coaches Poll.
Clemson won the game in a 25–24 upset. Despite out-gaining LSU by 445–219 in total yards, Clemson trailed for much of the game. Clemson was able to win after placekicker Chandler Catanzaro made a 37-yard field goal as time expired. Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd, who completed 36 of 50 passes for 346 yards, was named the game's most valuable player.