The 1872 Princeton Tigers football team represented the College of New Jersey, then more commonly known as Princeton College, in the 1872 college football season. The team finished with a 1–0 record and was retroactively named the national champion by the Billingsley Report and National Championship Foundation and as the national co-champion by Parke H. Davis. Princeton played Rutgers once, winning 4 goals to 1. David T. Marvel was the team captain. This season marked the first of four consecutive national championships, and one of 11 in a 13-year period between 1869 and 1881.