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1972 Holy Cross Crusaders football
1972 Holy Cross Crusaders football
Conference	Independent
Record	5–4–1
Head coach	Ed Doherty (2nd season);
Captains	Joe MarcAurele; Joe Wilson;
Home stadium	Fitton Field
	Seasons ← 1971 1973 →

1972 NCAA University Division independents football records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 10 Penn State		–		10	–	2	–	0
No. 14 Notre Dame		–		8	–	3	–	0
Utah State		–		8	–	3	–	0
West Virginia		–		8	–	4	–	0
Florida State		–		7	–	4	–	0
Northern Illinois		–		7	–	4	–	0
Rutgers		–		7	–	4	–	0
No. 20 Georgia Tech		–		7	–	4	–	1
Air Force		–		6	–	4	–	0
Army		–		6	–	4	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		6	–	4	–	1
Houston		–		6	–	4	–	1
Tulane		–		6	–	5	–	0
Temple		–		5	–	4	–	0
Colgate		–		5	–	4	–	1
Holy Cross		–		5	–	4	–	1
Syracuse		–		5	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		5	–	6	–	0
Dayton		–		4	–	6	–	1
Boston College		–		4	–	7	–	0
Navy		–		4	–	7	–	0
South Carolina		–		4	–	7	–	0
Southern Miss		–		3	–	7	–	1
Xavier		–		3	–	8	–	0
Marshall		–		2	–	8	–	0
Cincinnati		–		2	–	9	–	0
Villanova		–		2	–	9	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		1	–	10	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1972 Holy Cross Crusaders football team was an American football team that represented the College of the Holy Cross during the 1972 NCAA University Division football season. Ed Doherty returned for his second year as head coach. The team compiled a record of 5–4–1.^[1]

Holy Cross competed as an independent despite having joined the Yankee Conference in 1971. Because their previous scheduling commitments for the 1972 season would not have allowed them to play the full Yankee round-robin, the Crusaders were excluded from the Yankee Conference football championship.^[2] Nonetheless, Holy Cross coaches participated in the conference's preseason media night, expressing their enthusiasm about full participation in league play in the coming years.^[3]

Three months later, college officials had a different view of the future. Having made the decision to admit women to what had formerly been an all-male college, administrators worried that soon there would not be enough men on campus to stay competitive in the full range of Yankee Conference sports. On November 14, with the football season still in progress, they made the announcement that Holy Cross would withdraw from the Yankee Conference, effective immediately.^[4]

As in 1971, Holy Cross played two longstanding Yankee Conference opponents in 1972, beating Massachusetts days before the withdrawal announcement, and Connecticut a couple weeks after. Neither game was considered a conference matchup.

All home games were played at Fitton Field on the Holy Cross campus in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 16	Rutgers	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	W 24–14	15,520	^[5]
September 23	at Brown	Brown Stadium Providence, RI	W 30–24	12,500	^[6]
September 30	at Temple	Temple Stadium Philadelphia, PA	L 7–15	9,810	^[7]
October 7	Dartmouth	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	L 7–17	8,000	^[8]
October 14	at Colgate	Andy Kerr Stadium Hamilton, NY	T 21–21	7,500	^[9]
October 28	Villanova^	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	W 26–9	12,117	^[10]
November 11	UMass	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	W 28–16	16,321–16,700	^[11]^[12]
November 18	at Army	Michie Stadium West Point, NY	L 13–15	39,441	^[13]
November 25	Connecticut	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	W 20–10	14,011	^[14]
December 2	at Boston College	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA (rivalry)	L 11–41	30,187	^[15]
Homecoming ^ Family Weekend