The 1972 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) during the

1972 NCAA University Division football season The 1972 NCAA University Division football season saw the USC Trojans, coached by John McKay, go undefeated and win the national championship as the unanimous choice of the 50 AP panelists. Eighth-ranked in the preseason, the Trojans were narro ...

. In their fourth and final season under head coach Bob Weber, the Wildcats compiled a 4–7 record (4–3 against WAC opponents), finished in fourth place in the WAC, and were outscored by their opponents, 271 to 226. The team played its home games in

Arizona Stadium Arizona Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. It is the home field of the Arizona Wildcats of the Big 12 Conference. Origin ...

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. Weber was fired after the season due to his failure to produce winning records. The team's statistical leaders included Bill Demory with 1,175 passing yards, Bob McCall with 1,148 rushing yards, and Barry Dean with 414 receiving yards.

Schedule

After the season

Soon after losing to Arizona State, the Wildcats fired Weber and had to search for a new coach. Weber went 16–26 at Arizona and lost all four meetings against ASU. The team had been underperforming with Weber in charge and fans called for Weber to fired. Arizona did not post any winning seasons under Weber and that the inability to beat Arizona State was a main reason for his dismissal. After a national coaching search, the Wildcats hired

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

defensive coordinator

Jim Young James Norman Young (born June 6, 1943) is a former professional American football and Canadian football player. Young played running back and wide receiver for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings for two seasons (1965–66), and the CFL's BC Lions for ...

as the new head coach for the 1973 season.

References

{{Arizona Wildcats football navbox

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Arizona Wildcats football seasons

Arizona Wildcats football The Arizona Wildcats football program represents the University of Arizona (UA) in the sport of American college football. Arizona competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member ...