1972 Stanford Cardinals football team

1972 Pacific-8 football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

Stanford Cardinals football
1972 Stanford Cardinals football
	100 px
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
1972 record	6–5 (4–4 Pac-8)
Head coach	Jack Christiansen (1st year)
Home stadium	Stanford Stadium (c. 85,500, grass)
« 1971	1973 »

The 1972 Stanford Cardinals football team represented Stanford University in the 1972 college football season. Following the departure of head coach John Ralston the previous year, defensive coordinator Jack Christiansen became Stanford's new head coach.

The school changed its nickname to "Cardinals" from "Indians" the previous year after objections from Native American students.^[1]^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	Result
September 16	San Jose State*		Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	W 44–0
September 23	at Duke*	#19	Wallace Wade Stadium • Durham, NC	W 10–6
September 30	#20 West Virginia*	#19	Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	W 41–35
October 7	#1 USC	#15	Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	L 21–30
October 14	#12 Washington	#17	Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	W 24–0
October 21	at Oregon	#13	Autzen Stadium • Eugene, OR	L 13–15
October 28	Oregon State		Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA	W 17–11
November 4	at #8 UCLA		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA	L 23–28
November 11	at Washington State	#20	Martin Stadium • Pullman, WA	L 13–27
November 18	at California		California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA (75th Big Game)	L 21–24
December 2	at Hawaii*		Honolulu Stadium • Honolulu, HI	W 39–7
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll.

v t e Stanford Cardinal football
Venues	Stanford Field (1905–1921) Stanford Stadium (1921–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games California: Big Game USC Notre Dame San Jose State: Bill Walsh Legacy Game
Culture & lore	Stanford Tree "Come Join the Band" "All Right Now" Stanford Band The Play Stanford Axe T formation 1906–17 Stanford rugby teams 1894 Chicago game 2007 USC game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
National championship seasons in bold

1972 Pacific-8 football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#1 USC $	7	–	0	–	0	12	–	0	–	0
#15 UCLA	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
#19 Washington State	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Washington	4	–	3	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
California	3	–	4	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Stanford	2	–	5	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll