1972 BYU Cougars football
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Record7–4 (5–2 WAC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorDave Kragthorpe (3rd season)
Offensive schemeWest Coast
Defensive coordinatorDick Felt (1st season)
Base defense3–4
Home stadiumCougar Stadium
Seasons
← 1971
1973 →
1972 Western Athletic Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 13 Arizona State $ 5 – 1 – 0 10 – 2 – 0
BYU 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 4 – 0
Utah 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
Arizona 4 – 3 – 0 4 – 7 – 0
Wyoming 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 7 – 0
New Mexico 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 8 – 0
Colorado State 1 – 4 – 0 1 – 10 – 0
UTEP 1 – 6 – 0 2 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1972 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) for the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. It was their first year under head coach LaVell Edwards and the Cougars finished over .500 for the first time since 1969.

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 16Kansas State*
W 32–931,752
September 23Utah State*
L 42–1935,239
September 30at Oregon State*
L 29–320,065
October 78:00 p.m.at Long Beach State*
W 38–2711,500
October 14UTEPdagger
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, UT
W 21–1431,176
October 21No. 19 Arizona State
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, UT
L 49–1723,561
October 28at Colorado State
W 44–818,972[1]
November 4Wyoming
  • Cougar Stadium
  • Provo, UT
W 33–1422,373
November 11at Arizona
L 21–726,500
November 181:30 p.m.Utah
W 16–724,917
November 25at New Mexico
W 21–79,490
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in local to gamesite time

Preseason

Defensive coordinator LaVell Edwards was promoted to head coach in January to take over for the departed Tommy Hudspeth,[2] who ended up as the head coach at UTEP by season's end.

BYU was returning 28 players from the previous year but Golden Richards would not be one of them. Richards claimed it was because the Cougars were still a run-oriented offense while BYU and Edwards said it was because Richards had trouble keeping with his academics.[3]

Personnel

1972 BYU Cougars football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
WR 9 Dave Affleck
FB 34 Charlie Ah You
QB 7 Bill August
C 61 Joe Bailey
WR 41 John Betham
FB 36 Wayne Bower
OT 79 Dave Brooks
WR 42 Dave Clark
FB 22 Dean Conway
OT 64 Bill Critchfield
OT 62 Craig Denny
RB 36 Paul Devine
TE 80 Dennis Dorman
G 68 Harold Farnsworth
RB Gil Gillenwater
QB 15 Brian Gunderson
C 56 Paul Gustavson
G 78 Paul Howard
WR 25 Logan Hunter
RB 20 Bryce Johnson
OL 66 Doug Maughan
QB 14 Terry McEwen
G 76 Val Miller
G 71 John Monahan
QB 16 Mark Montgomery
OT 70 Paul Muklewicz
OT 53 Ken Peterson
TE 89 Mike Pistorius
OT 65 Steve Price
WR 90 Rick Powell
C 59 Sid Smith
FB 35 Steve Stratton
RB 43 Dan Taylor
QB 13 Dave Terry
RB 28 Pete Van Valkenburg
WR 22 Lynn Zwahlen
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DE 85 Joel Adams
LB 45 Doug Adams
CB Dave Atkinson
DT 72 Wayne Baker
LB 69 Jerry Burke
CB 18 Stan Call
LB 67 Larry Carr
DE 58 Conrad Cole
S 44 Craig Crompton
LB 54 Steve Draeger
LB 84 Greg Dunn
S 17 Fred EchoHawk
S 24 Tom EchoHawk
DB 12 Mike Epperson
DE 56 Lloyd Fairbanks
CB 31 Reed Gempler
S 33 George Gourley
S 11 Dan Hansen
LB 52 Kahlili Hunt
LB 34 Phil Jensen Fr
CB 26 Paul Karaica
DE 87 Bob Larsen
DT 74 Paul Linford
DT 60 Wally Molifua
LB 57 Larry Nelson
DL 83 Orrin Olsen
LB 50 Mike Preston
DE 46 Roy Robbins
LB 37 Karl Rogoff
DE 88 Ed Rozeski
DT 63 Julian Smilowitz
DB 5 Bennie Smith
LB 51 Scott Stapley
LB 32 Ron Tree
DE 73 Stan Varner
DT 77 Grant Wells
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
P 14 Doug Coon
K 19 Dennis Olsen
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Starters

Offense[edit]

POS Name Name
QB Dave Terry
TB Pete Van Valkenburg
FB Steve Stratton Wayne Bower
WR Logan Hunter
WR John Betham
TE Dennis Doman Mike Pistorius
T Craig Denny
G Paul Howard
C Joe Bailey
G John Monahan
T Steve Price Dave Brooks

Defense[edit]

POS Name Name
DL Ed Rozeski
DL Paul Linford
DL Grant Wells Wayne Baker
DL Orrin Olsen Bob Larsen
LB Ron Tree
LB Larry Carr Kahili Hunt
LB Phil Jensen Mike Preston
DB George Gourley Bennie Smith
DB Dave Atkinson
DB Craig Compton
DB Dan Hansen

[4]

Season summary

Kansas State

Pete Van Valkenburg rushed for 164 yards on 16 carries, scored on a 59-yard run in the first quarter and set up Dave Terry for BYU's second touchdown. Keith Brumley's 37-yard field goal was Kansas State's only points through the first three quarters. Henry Childs caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Dennis Morrison three minutes into the final quarter for Kansas State.

[5]

Utah State

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At Oregon State

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At Long Beach State

Period 1 2 34Total
BYU 0 10 141438
Long Beach State 14 6 0727

at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA

  • Date: October 7
  • Game time: 8:00 p.m. PDT
  • Game attendance: 11,500
  • Box Score


UTEP

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Arizona State

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At Colorado State

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Wyoming

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At Arizona

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At Utah

BYU Cougars (5–4) at Utah Utes (5–4)
Period 1 2 34Total
BYU 7 2 0716
Utah 0 0 707

at Robert Rice Stadium, Salt Lake City, Utah

  • Date: November 18, 1972
  • Game weather: Overcast, 47 °F (8 °C)
  • Game attendance: 24,917
  • Box Score
Game information

BYU's first win versus Utah since 1967

At New Mexico

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Statistics

Passing

Player Comp Att Yards TD INT
Bill August 69 144 891 5 5
Dave Terry 62 122 742 2 10
Pete Van Valkenburg 2 5 32 1
John Betham 0 1

Rushing

Player Att Yards TD
Pete Van Valkenburg 232 1,386 12
Steve Stratton 78 328 3
Wayne Bower 43 271 1
Dan Taylor 46 161 1
Dave Terry 61 120 2
Gil Gillenwater 3 56
Bill August 50 22
Bryce Johnson 1 0
John Betham 4 -15

Receiving

Player Rec Yards TD
Logan Hunter 49 555 2
John Betham 19 345 2
Mike Pistorius 16 314 2
Pete Van Valkenburg 10 98 1
Lynn Zwahlen 5 95 1
Jay Miller 6 30
Dennis Doman 7 59
Steve Stratton 8 55
Dan Taylor 4 45
Wayne Bower 4 36
Dave Affleck 3 15
Dave Terry 1 10
Bryce Johnson 1 8

Awards

All-WAC: Dave Atkinson, Dan Hansen, Paul Howard, Paul Linford, Ron Tree, Pete Van Valkenburg [2]

WAC Coach of the Year: LaVell Edwards [6]

References

  1. ^ Twitty, Mike (October 29, 1972). "Strong BYU effort stifles Ram upset plan". Fort Collins Coloradoan. p. 23.
  2. ^ a b "2010 BYU football media guide". Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
  3. ^ Sports Illustrated, 11 Sept 1972
  4. ^ Broyles, Bob and Paul Guido. 50 Years of College Football: A Modern History of America's Most Colorful Sport.
  5. ^ "BYU in romp." Eugene Register-Guard. p. 4B. 1972 Sep 17. Retrieved 2022-Dec-08.
  6. ^ The Deseret News. 20 November 2010
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