1972 BYU Cougars football team

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.

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

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

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 local to gamesite time

[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 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

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

1. 1972 Football season - CougarStats
2. 2010 BYU football media guide
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. The Deseret News. 20 November 2010