2003 USC Trojans football team

2003 USC Trojans football
2003 USC Trojans football
AP Poll national champion; FWAA national champion; Pac-10 champion; Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 28–14 vs. Michigan
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 1
Record	12–1 (7–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Pete Carroll (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Norm Chow (3rd season)
Captains	Keary Colbert; Melvin Simmons;
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (c. 92,000, grass)
	Seasons ← 2002 2004 →

2003 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 1 USC $	7	–	1	12	–	1
No. 9 Washington State	6	–	2	10	–	3
Oregon	5	–	3	8	–	5
California	5	–	3	8	–	6
Oregon State	4	–	4	8	–	5
Washington	4	–	4	6	–	6
UCLA	4	–	4	6	–	7
Arizona State	2	–	6	5	–	7
Stanford	2	–	6	4	–	7
Arizona	1	–	7	2	–	10

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 2003 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. They won their first national championship since 1978 as they were named the Associated Press and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) national champions. However, the Trojans were denied a spot in the BCS National Championship Game by the BCS selections for the national championship game.

The regular season ended with three one-loss teams in BCS contention: Oklahoma, LSU and USC. USC ended the regular season ranked #1 and LSU #2 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. USC lost one triple-overtime game at California, which finished 8–6; LSU had a 12-point home loss against a Florida team that went 8–5; Oklahoma, which had been ranked #1 for most of the season, fell to #3 after suffering a 35–7 defeat in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game to Kansas State, which finished 11–4. Controversy erupted when the BCS computers selected Oklahoma–LSU as the BCS title game. During the bowl games, USC had a convincing 28–14 win over #4 Michigan in the Rose Bowl while LSU beat Oklahoma 21–14 in the Sugar Bowl (designated the BCS title game). USC remained #1 in the final AP Poll with 48 of the 65 votes, and LSU was ranked, by contractual obligation, #1 in the final Coaches' Poll, though three coaches did not follow instructions and voted USC #1 in that poll as well.^[1]

Recruiting

With the late arrival of highly touted quarterback John David Booty, who left high school a year early to attend USC, the Trojans' 2003 recruiting class was considered by some to be the best in the country.^[2]^[3]

Its legacy included many NFL Draft picks over several years, including four first-round picks.^[4]

2006 NFL draft:

Reggie Bush (Round 1, Pick 2)
LenDale White (Round 2, Pick 45),

2007 NFL draft:

Steve Smith (Round 2, Pick 51)
Eric Wright (Finished career at UNLV, Round 2, Pick 53)
Ryan Kalil (Round 2, Pick 59)

2008 NFL draft:

Sedrick Ellis (Round 1, Pick 7)
Sam Baker (Round 1, Pick 21)
Lawrence Jackson (Round 1, Pick 28)
Terrell Thomas (Round 2, Pick 63)
John David Booty (Round 5, Pick 137)
Thomas Williams (Round 5, Pick 155)
Chauncey Washington (Round 7, Pick 213)

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 30	3:00 p.m.	at No. 6 Auburn*	No. 8	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	CBS	W 23–0	86,063
September 6	5:00 p.m.	BYU*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 35–18	75,315
September 13	1:00 p.m.	Hawaii*	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	FSN	W 61–32	73,654
September 27	3:30 p.m.	at California	No. 3	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	FSN	L 31–34 ^3OT	51,208
October 4	12:30 p.m.	at Arizona State	No. 10	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	ABC	W 37–17	56,527
October 11	7:00 p.m.	Stanford	No. 9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	FSN	W 44–21	68,341
October 18	11:30 a.m.	at Notre Dame*	No. 4	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	NBC	W 45–14	80,795
October 25	12:30 p.m.	at Washington	No. 4	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	ABC	W 43–23	72,015	^[5]
November 1	4:00 p.m.	No. 6 Washington State	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 43–16	82,478	^[6]
November 15	4:00 p.m.	at Arizona	No. 2	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	TBS	W 45–0	39,201
November 22	12:30 p.m.	UCLA	No. 2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	W 47–22	93,172
December 6	1:30 p.m.	Oregon State	No. 2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 52–28	73,864
January 1, 2004	1:30 p.m.	vs. No. 4 Michigan*	No. 1	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl, College GameDay)	ABC	W 28–14	93,849
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	8	4 (6)	4 (4)	4 (2)	3 (2)	10	9	5	5	3	2	2	2	2	2	1 (42)	1 (48)
Coaches	8	5	4 (1)	3 (1)	3 (1)	10	9	4	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	1 (37)	2 (3)
BCS	Not released								7	4	2	2	3	2	2	3	Not released

Game summaries

Auburn

	1	2	3	4	Total
• USC	10	0	6	7	23
Auburn	0	0	0	0	0

Date: August 30
Location: Jordan–Hare Stadium • Auburn, Alabama
Game attendance: 86,063
Referee: Steve Shaw
TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist, Todd Blackledge and Jill Arrington

USC opened the season visiting Auburn University: the Tigers were also ranked in the top 10 and had been named a pre-season favorite to be the national champion by at least one major news organization. In his first start, quarterback Matt Leinart led the Trojans on a dominating 23–0 performance.^[7]

Roster

2003 USC Trojans football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
TE	`86`	Dominique Byrd	So
RB	`5`	Reggie Bush	Fr
QB	`10`	Matt Cassel	Jr
WR	`83`	Keary Colbert	Sr
TE	`44`	Gregg Guenther	So
TE	`81`	Alex Holmes	Sr
C	`62`	Norm Katnik	Sr
RB	`37`	David Kirtman	So
QB	`11`	Matt Leinart	So
OT	`77`	Jacob Rogers	Sr
G	`78`	Lenny Vandermade	Jr
RB	`35`	Lee Webb	Jr
WR	`1`	Mike Williams	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`8`	Marcell Allmond	Sr
LB	`59`	Collin Ashton	So
DT	`84`	Shaun Cody	So
LB	`6`	Matt Grootegoed	Jr
DB	`27`	Jason Leach	Jr
DT	`99`	Mike Patterson	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

Pete Carroll

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Norm Chow (OC)
Ed Orgeron (AHC/DL/RC)
Tim Davis (OL)
Greg Burns (DB)
Lane Kiffin (WR)
Rocky Seto (S)
Brennan Carroll (GA)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

References

^ Miller, Ted (May 20, 2008). "BCS system leaves long trail of wounded victims". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 20, 2008.
^ Newberg, Jamie (May 22, 2003). "Upon further review ..." SI.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2003. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
^ "USC wins on recruiting trail by grabbing California talent". USA Today. February 6, 2003.
^ 2003 USC FOOTBALL SIGNEES Archived 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine, USC Trojans - Official Site, Retrieved April 30, 2008.
^ Korte, Tim (October 26, 2003). "Leinert excels as USC cruises". Sunday Register-Guard. (Eugene, Oregon). Associated Press. p. D6.
^ Fox, Tom (November 3, 2003). "Washington State drubbed by USC". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Idaho-Washington. p. 1B.
^ Forde, Pat (August 28, 2007) The Dash is off and running, ESPN.com.

[ESPN052008-1] Miller, Ted (May 20, 2008). "BCS system leaves long trail of wounded victims". ESPN.com. Retrieved May 20, 2008.

[SI052203-2] Newberg, Jamie (May 22, 2003). "Upon further review ..." SI.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2003. Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[USATODAY020603-3] "USC wins on recruiting trail by grabbing California talent". USA Today. February 6, 2003.

[USC2003recruits-4] 2003 USC FOOTBALL SIGNEES Archived 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine, USC Trojans - Official Site, Retrieved April 30, 2008.

[lnrtexc-5] Korte, Tim (October 26, 2003). "Leinert excels as USC cruises". Sunday Register-Guard. (Eugene, Oregon). Associated Press. p. D6.

[wsdrusc-6] Fox, Tom (November 3, 2003). "Washington State drubbed by USC". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Idaho-Washington. p. 1B.

[ESPN082807-7] Forde, Pat (August 28, 2007) The Dash is off and running, ESPN.com.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

v t e USC Trojans football
Venues	Athletic Park (1895–1898) Fiesta Park (1897–1898, 1901–1902, 1904–1906, 1916) Chutes Park (1900) Prager Park (1903) Bovard Field (1904–1910, 1914–1915, 1917–1923) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Jones Field/Kennedy Field (practice)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame Stanford UCLA: Victory Bell
Culture and lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Student Body Right Tommy Trojan Tribute to Troy Athletics scandal 1967 "Game of the Century" "Bush Push" 2007 Stanford game So This Is College
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911–1913 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 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e College football national champions (championship game era)
Bowl Coalition	1992: Alabama 1993: Florida State 1994: Nebraska
Bowl Alliance	1995: Nebraska 1996: Florida 1997: Michigan (AP, FWAA, NFF) / Nebraska (Bowl Alliance, Coaches)
Bowl Championship Series	1998: Tennessee 1999: Florida State 2000: Oklahoma 2001: Miami (FL) 2002: Ohio State 2003: LSU (BCS, Coaches, NFF) / USC (AP, FWAA) 2004: USC (AP)(BCS vacated) 2005: Texas 2006: Florida 2007: LSU 2008: Florida 2009: Alabama 2010: Auburn 2011: Alabama 2012: Alabama 2013: Florida State
College Football Playoff	2014: Ohio State 2015: Alabama 2016: Clemson 2017: Alabama 2018: Clemson 2019: LSU 2020: Alabama 2021: Georgia 2022: Georgia 2023: Michigan

v t e Pac-12 Conference football champions
Pacific Coast	Washington (1916) Washington State (1917) California (1918) Oregon & Washington (1919) California (1920) California (1921) California (1922) California (1923) Stanford (1924) Washington (1925) Stanford (1926) Idaho, Stanford, & USC (1927) USC (1928) USC (1929) Washington State (1930) USC (1931) USC (1932) Oregon & Stanford (1933) Stanford (1934) California, Stanford, & UCLA (1935) Washington (1936) California (1937) California & USC (1938) USC (1939) Stanford (1940) Oregon State (1941) UCLA (1942) USC (1943) USC (1944) USC (1945) UCLA (1946) USC (1947) California & Oregon (1948) California (1949) California (1950) Stanford (1951) USC (1952) UCLA (1953) UCLA (1954) UCLA (1955) Oregon State (1956) Oregon & Oregon State (1957) California (1958)
AAWU	UCLA, USC, & Washington (1959) Washington (1960) UCLA (1961) USC (1962) Washington (1963) Oregon State & USC (1964) UCLA (1965) USC (1966) USC (1967)
Pacific-8	USC (1968) USC (1969) Stanford (1970) Stanford (1971) USC (1972) USC (1973) USC (1974) California & UCLA (1975) USC (1976) Washington (1977)
Pacific-10	USC (1978) USC (1979) Washington (1980) Washington (1981) UCLA (1982) UCLA (1983) USC (1984) UCLA (1985) Arizona State (1986) USC & UCLA (1987) USC (1988) USC (1989) Washington (1990) Washington (1991) Washington & Stanford (1992) Arizona, UCLA, & USC (1993) Oregon (1994) USC & Washington (1995) Arizona State (1996) UCLA & Washington State (1997) UCLA (1998) Stanford (1999) Oregon, Oregon State, & Washington (2000) Oregon (2001) USC & Washington State (2002) USC (2003) USC (2004) vacated USC (2005) vacated California & USC (2006) Arizona State & USC (2007) USC (2008) Oregon (2009) Oregon (2010)
Pac-12	Oregon (2011) Stanford (2012) Stanford (2013) Oregon (2014) Stanford (2015) Washington (2016) USC (2017) Washington (2018) Oregon (2019) Oregon (2020) Utah (2021) Utah (2022) Washington (2023)
National championships in bold