2003 NCAA Division I-A football season


The 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with an abundance of controversy, resulting in a split national championship. This was the first split title since the inception of the BCS, something the BCS intended to eliminate.
At season's end, three BCS Automatic Qualifying conference teams finished the regular season with one loss, with only two spots available in the BCS National Championship Game. Three BCS Non-Automatic Qualifying conference teams also finished with one loss, TCU, Boise State and Miami, stirring the debate of the BCS being unfair to BCS Non-AQ conference teams.
LSU defeated Oklahoma in the 2004 Sugar Bowl, securing the BCS National Championship, as the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll was contractually obligated to vote the winner of the BCS National Championship Game #1. Meanwhile, when AP #1 USC beat Michigan in the 2004 Rose Bowl, the AP voters kept USC in the top spot, and USC secured the AP title.
Army became the first team in NCAA Division I-A football modern history to finish the season 0–13.
The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award sponsored by ESPN chose USC coach Pete Carroll as their award recipient, while the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award, voted on by an association of sportswriters, chose LSU coach Nick Saban.
The Orange Bowl game was noteworthy in that Miami and Florida State previously had scheduled to play each other on Labor Day in 2004. Playing in the Orange Bowl ensured that their next meeting would be each of their very next games and their first of the 2004 season.

BCS selection process controversy

had lost in triple overtime at California on September 27, LSU lost at home to Florida on October 11, and Oklahoma, which had been #1 in every BCS rating, AP and Coaches' Poll of the season, lost to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game, 35-7 on December 6. Although USC, then 11-1, finished ranked #1 in both the AP and Coaches' Polls, with LSU ranked #2 and Oklahoma #3, Oklahoma surpassed both USC and LSU on several BCS computer factors. Oklahoma's schedule strength was ranked 11th to LSU's 29th and USC's 37th. Oklahoma's schedule rank was 0.44 to LSU's 1.16 and USC's 1.48. As such, despite the timing of Oklahoma's loss affecting the human voters, the computers kept Oklahoma at #1 in the BCS poll. LSU was ranked #2 by the BCS based on its #2 ranking in the AP Poll, Coaches Poll, 6 of 7 computer rankings, and strength of schedule calculations. USC's #3 BCS ranking resulted from it being ranked #1 the AP and Coaches Poll, but #3 in 5 of 7 computer rankings and schedule strength, though separated by only 0.16 points.
Ted Waitt, CEO of Gateway Computers, offered the NCAA $31 million for a national championship game between USC and Louisiana State.

Rules changes

The NCAA Rules Committee adopted the following rules changes for the 2003 season:
No teams upgraded from Division I-AA, leaving the number of Division I-A schools fixed at 117.
School2002 Conference2003 Conference
South Florida BullsI-A IndependentConference USA
Utah State AggiesI-A IndependentSun Belt

Conference standings

Bowl Championship Series rankings

WEEK#1#2EVENT
OCT 20OklahomaMiami
OCT 27OklahomaMiamiVirginia Tech 31, Miami 7
NOV 3OklahomaUSC
NOV 10OklahomaUSC
NOV 17OklahomaOhio StateMichigan 35, Ohio State 21
NOV 24OklahomaUSC
DEC 1OklahomaUSCLSU 34, Georgia 13
FINALOklahomaLSU

Bowl games

Rankings given are AP poll positions at time of game

BCS bowls

Others receiving votes: 26. Oklahoma State 109, 27. Arkansas 73, 28. Virginia 36, 29. Northern Illinois 30, 30. Auburn 8, 30. Oregon State 8, 32. Pittsburgh 7, 32. N.C. State 7, 34. West Virginia 4, 35. Connecticut 2.

Final Coaches Poll

Three coaches voted for USC as the #1 team, even though the polled coaches are required to vote the BCS champion as #1. Because the votes were not public, it is not known which three coaches placed those votes. However, it is known that USC coach Pete Carroll could not have voted for his own team since he was not a voting coach that season.
Also receiving votes
Northern Illinois 80; Arkansas 74; Oklahoma State 63; Auburn 20; North Carolina State 17; Oregon State 15; West Virginia 14; Southern Mississippi 12; Fresno State 6; Hawaii 6; Pittsburgh 5; Texas Tech 4; Marshall 3; Virginia 3; Boston College 2; California 1; Connecticut 1; Memphis 1; Michigan State Spartans 1; Missouri 1; North Texas 1.

Heisman Trophy voting

The Heisman Trophy is given to the most outstanding player of the year