1972 BYU Cougars football team

1972 Western Athletic Conference football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

1972 BYU Cougars football
1972 BYU Cougars football
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
1972 record	7–4 (5–2 WAC)
Head coach	LaVell Edwards (1st season);
Offensive coordinator	Dave Kragthorpe
Home stadium	Cougar Stadium
	Seasons ← 1971 1973 →

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[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 16		Kansas State*	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT	W 32–9	31,752
September 23		Utah State*	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT (Old Wagon Wheel)	L 42–19	35,239
September 30		at Oregon State*	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	L 29–3	20,065
October 7	8:00 p.m.	at Long Beach State*	Anaheim Stadium Anaheim, CA	W 38–27	11,500
October 14		UTEP	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT	W 21–14	31,176
October 21		No. 19 Arizona State	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT	L 49–17	23,561
October 28		at Colorado State	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, CO	W 44–8	18,972
November 4		Wyoming	Cougar Stadium Provo, UT	W 33–14	22,373
November 11		at Arizona	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	L 21–7	26,500
November 18	1:30 p.m.	Utah	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City, UT (Holy War)	W 16–7	24,917
November 25		at New Mexico	University Stadium Albuquerque, NM	W 21–7	9,490
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in

^[1]

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]

Roster[]

BYU Cougars 1972 roster

Quarterbacks

7 Bill August
15 Brian Gunderson
16 Mark Montgomery
14 Terry McEwen
13 Dave Terry

Tailbacks

30 Paul Devine
Gil Gillenwater
20 Bryce Johnson
43 Dan Taylor
28 Pete Van Valkenburg

Fullbacks

34 Charlie Ah You
36 Wayne Bower
22 Dean Conway
35 Steve Stratton

Wide Receivers

9 Dave Affleck
41 John Betham
42 Dave Clark
25 Logan Hunter
90 Rick Powell
22 Lynn Zwahlen

Tight Ends

80 Dennis Doman
89 Mike Pistorius

Offensive Linemen

61 Joe Bailey C
79 Dave Brooks T
64 Bill Critchfield T
62 Craig Denny T
68 Harold Farnsworth G
56 Paul Gustavson C
78 Paul Howard G
76 Val Miller G
71 John Monahan G
70 Paul Muklewicz T
66 Doug Maughan
53 Ken Peterson T
65 Steve Price T
59 Sid Smith C

Defensive Lineman

85 Joel Adams DE
72 Wayne Baker DT
58 Conrad Cole DE
86 Lloyd Fairbanks DE
87 Bob Larsen DE
74 Paul Linford DT
60 Wally Molifua DT
46 Roy Robbins DE
88 Ed Rozeski DE
63 Julian Smilowitz DT
73 Stan Varner DE
77 Grant Wells DT

Linebackers

45 Doug Adams
50 Mike Preston
69 Jerry Burke
67 Larry Carr
54 Steve Draeger
84 Greg Dunn
52 Kahlili Hunt
57 Larry Nelson
83 Orrin Olsen
37 Karl Rogoff
51 Scott Stapley
32 Ron Tree

Defensive Backs

8 Dave Atkinson LCB
18 Stan Call LCB
44 Craig Crompton SS
17 Fred EchoHawk SS
24 Tom EchoHawk WS
12 Mike Epperson
33 George Gourley SS
31 Reed Gempler RCB
11 Dan Hansen WS
26 Paul Karaica LCB
5 Bennie Smith RCB
23 Von Wells SS

Special Teams

14 Doug Coon P
19 Dennis Olsen K

Starters[]

Offense[]

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[]

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]

Coaching staff[]

BYU Cougars 1972 staff

Head Coach: LaVell Edwards

Offensive Coaches

Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line: Dave Kragthorpe
Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers: Dewey Warren
Running Backs: J.D. Helm

Defensive Coaches

Defensive Backs: Dick Felt

JV Coordinator: Mel Olson

Assistant:Jim Criner

^[1]

Results[]

Long Beach State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
BYU	0	10	14	14	38
Long Beach State	14	6	0	7	27

at Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, CA

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

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	BYU	Long Beach State
1					Long Beach State	Drake 1-yard touchdown run, Logue kick good	0	7
1					Long Beach State	Drake 1-yard touchdown run, Logue kick good	0	14
2					BYU	Pete Van Valkenburg 3-yard touchdown run, John Monahan kick good	7	14
2					BYU	31-yard field goal by John Monahan	10	14
3					Long Beach State	Newsome 28-yard interception return, kick blocked	10	20
3					BYU	Pete Van Valkenburg 64-yard touchdown run, John Monahan kick good	17	20
3					BYU	Dave Atkinson 19-yard interception return, John Monahan kick good	24	20
4					Long Beach State	Fitzpatrick 1-yard touchdown run, Logue kick good	24	27
4					BYU	Pete Van Valkenburg 73-yard touchdown run, John Monahan kick good	31	27
4					BYU	Steve Stratton 7-yard touchdown run, John Monahan kick good	38	27
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							38	27

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

^[1]

Awards[]

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

WAC Coach of the Year: LaVell Edwards ^[5]

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c 1972 Football season - CougarStats
^ ^a ^b "2010 BYU football media guide". Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
^ Sports Illustrated, 11 Sept 1972
^ Broyles, Bob and Paul Guido. 50 Years of College Football: A Modern History of America's Most Colorful Sport.
^ The Deseret News. 20 November 2010

This college football 1970s season article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

[CS-1] 1972 Football season - CougarStats

[MG2010-2] "2010 BYU football media guide". Archived from the original on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2010-11-21.

[3] Sports Illustrated, 11 Sept 1972

[CFB50-4] Broyles, Bob and Paul Guido. 50 Years of College Football: A Modern History of America's Most Colorful Sport.

[5] The Deseret News. 20 November 2010

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t BYU Cougars football
Venues	LaVell Edwards Stadium (1964–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Utah: Holy War (Beehive Boot) Utah State (Beehive Boot, The Old Wagon Wheel)
Culture & lore	Cosmo the Cougar "The Cougar Song" BYU Cougar Marching Band Miami Beach Brawl Mormons vs. Mullets
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1972 Western Athletic Conference football standings
v t	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