1972 BYU Cougars football team

Last updated
1972 BYU Cougars football
Conference Western Athletic Conference
Record7–4 (5–2 WAC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinator Dave Kragthorpe (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator Dick Felt (1st season)
Home stadium Cougar Stadium
Seasons
←  1971
1973  →
1972 Western Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 13 Arizona State $ 5 –1 –010 –2 –0
BYU 5 –2 –07 –4 –0
Utah 5 –2 –06 –5 –0
Arizona 4 –3 –04 –7 –0
Wyoming 3 –4 –04 –7 –0
New Mexico 2 –4 –03 –8 –0
Colorado State 1 –4 –01 –10 –0
UTEP 1 –6 –02 –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.

Contents

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 16 Kansas State *
W 32–931,752
September 23 Utah 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 14 UTEP Dagger-14-plain.png
  • 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 4 Wyoming
  • 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

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

Starters

Offense

POSNameName
QBDave Terry
TBPete Van Valkenburg
FBSteve StrattonWayne Bower
WRLogan Hunter
WRJohn Betham
TEDennis DomanMike Pistorius
TCraig Denny
GPaul Howard
CJoe Bailey
GJohn Monahan
TSteve PriceDave Brooks

Defense

POSNameName
DLEd Rozeski
DLPaul Linford
DLGrant WellsWayne Baker
DLOrrin OlsenBob Larsen
LBRon Tree
LBLarry CarrKahili Hunt
LBPhil JensenMike Preston
DBGeorge GourleyBennie Smith
DBDave Atkinson
DBCraig Compton
DBDan 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

At Oregon State


At Long Beach State

Period1234Total
BYU010141438
Long Beach State1460727

at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA

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


UTEP


Arizona State


At Colorado State


Wyoming


At Arizona


At Utah

BYU Cougars (5–4) at Utah Utes (5–4)
Period1234Total
BYU 720716
Utah 00707

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


Statistics

Passing

PlayerCompAttYardsTDINT
Bill August6914489155
Dave Terry62122742210
Pete Van Valkenburg25321
John Betham01

Rushing

PlayerAttYardsTD
Pete Van Valkenburg2321,38612
Steve Stratton783283
Wayne Bower432711
Dan Taylor461611
Dave Terry611202
Gil Gillenwater356
Bill August5022
Bryce Johnson10
John Betham4-15

Receiving

PlayerRecYardsTD
Logan Hunter495552
John Betham193452
Mike Pistorius163142
Pete Van Valkenburg10981
Lynn Zwahlen5951
Jay Miller630
Dennis Doman759
Steve Stratton855
Dan Taylor445
Wayne Bower436
Dave Affleck315
Dave Terry110
Bryce Johnson18

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]

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References

  1. ↑ Twitty, Mike (October 29, 1972). "Strong BYU effort stifles Ram upset plan". Fort Collins Coloradoan. p. 23.
  2. 1 2 "2010 BYU football media guide". Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  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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