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
Preseason Defensive coordinator LaVell Edwards was promoted to head coach in January to take over for the departed Tommy Hudspeth, 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.Sports Illustrated, 11 Sept 1972
Game summaries 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.
"BYU in romp." Eugene Register-Guard. p. 4B. 1972 Sep 17. Retrieved 2022-Dec-08.
Utah State
At Oregon State
At Long Beach State
UTEP
Arizona State
At Colorado State
Wyoming
At Arizona
At Utah
BYU's first win versus Utah since 1967
At New Mexico
Personnel Roster
Starters
Offense POSNameNameQB Dave Terry TB Pete Van ValkenburgFB Steve Stratton Wayne Bower WR Logan Hunter WR John Betham TE Dennis Doman Mike PistoriusT Craig Denny G Paul Howard C Joe Bailey G John Monahan T Steve Price Dave Brooks
Defense POSNameNameDL Ed Rozeski DL Paul Linford DL Grant Wells Wayne BakerDL Orrin Olsen Bob LarsenLB Ron Tree LB Larry Carr Kahili HuntLB Phil Jensen Mike PrestonDB George Gourley Bennie SmithDB Dave Atkinson DB Craig Compton DB Dan Hansen
Broyles, Bob and Paul Guido. 50 Years of College Football: A Modern History of America's Most Colorful Sport.
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
WAC Coach of the Year: LaVell Edwards The Deseret News. 20 November 2010
References