The 2012 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 29, 2012, at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas in the United States.

The tenth edition of the Armed Forces Bowl began at 10:45 a.m. CST and aired on ESPN.

Despite being one loss away from postseason ineligibility, Rice rallied to end the regular season at 6-6.

Per Conference USA's contingency plan, the Owls were assigned the Armed Forces Bowl.

[5] This will be the Falcons' fourth Armed Forces bowl; they had previously played in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 games against the California Golden Bears and twice against the Houston Cougars, respectively.