American college football season
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.
Date Time Opponent Site Result Attendance Source September 16 Kansas State * W 32–931,752 September 23 Utah State * L 42–1935,239 September 30 at Oregon State * L 29–320,065 October 7 8:00 p.m. at Long Beach State * W 38–2711,500 October 14 UTEP W 21–1431,176 October 21 No. 19 Arizona State L 49–1723,561 October 28 at Colorado State W 44–818,972 [ 1] November 4 Wyoming W 33–1422,373 November 11 at Arizona L 21–726,500 November 18 1:30 p.m. Utah W 16–724,917 November 25 at New Mexico W 21–79,490
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]
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 Redshirt
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
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]
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]
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At Long Beach State [ edit ] Scoring summary Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP 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
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Game information First quarter
BYU – Steve Stratton 4-yard run (John Monahan kick). BYU 7–0. Second quarter
Third quarter
UTAH – Ike Spencer 70-yard run (Fleming Jensen kick). BYU 9–7. Fourth quarter
BYU – George Gourley 24-yard interception return (John Monahan kick). BYU 16–7. Top passers BYU – Dave Terry – 7/13, 71 yards UTAH – Daniel Payne – 3/17, 38 yards, 4 INT Top rushers BYU – Pete Van Valkenburg – 37 rushes, 158 yards UTAH – Ike Spencer – 11 rushes, 101 yards, TD Top receivers BYU – John Betham – 3 receptions, 32 yards UTAH – Stephen Odom – 2 receptions, 20 yards
BYU's first win versus Utah since 1967
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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
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
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
All-WAC: Dave Atkinson, Dan Hansen, Paul Howard, Paul Linford, Ron Tree, Pete Van Valkenburg [ 2]
WAC Coach of the Year: LaVell Edwards [ 6]
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons National championship seasons in bold