1972 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

The 1972 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1972 Big Ten Conference football season. In their first year under head coach Cal Stoll, the Golden Gophers compiled a 4–7 record and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 304 to 185.^[1]

1972 Minnesota Golden Gophers football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	4–7 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Cal Stoll (1st season)
MVP	John King
Captain	Bob Morgan
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1971 1973 →

1972 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 6 Michigan +	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Ohio State +	7	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
Purdue	6	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Michigan State	5	–	2	–	1			5	–	5	–	1
Minnesota	4	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Indiana	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Illinois	3	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Iowa	2	–	6	–	1			3	–	7	–	1
Wisconsin	2	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Northwestern	1	–	8	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Fullback John King received the team's Most Valuable Player award. King was also named All-Big Ten first team. Defensive back Tim Alderson was named All-Big Ten second team. Offensive lineman Doug Kingsriter was named Academic All-Big Ten.^[2]

Total attendance for the season was 221,553, which averaged to 36,925. The season high for attendance was against Iowa.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 16	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	L 23–27	35,783
September 23	No. 3 Colorado*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 6–38	42,703
September 30	at No. 7 Nebraska*	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	L 0–49	76,217
October 7	Kansas*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 28–34	31,505–31,595
October 14	Purdue	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 3–28	37,287
October 21	Iowa	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN (rivalry)	W 43–14	44,196
October 28	at No. 5 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (Little Brown Jug)	L 0–42	84,190	[4]
November 4	at No. 5 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 19–27	86,439
November 11	Northwestern	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	W 35–29	32,771
November 18	Michigan State	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	W 14–10	33,001
November 25	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI (rivalry)	W 14–6	60,746
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1972 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OT 72 Matt Herkenhoff Jr TE 83 Doug Kingsriter Sr OT 71 Dave Simonson Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 22 Doug Beaudoin Fr LB 33 Tom MacLeod Sr DE 97 Steve Neils Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Cal Stoll Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster