2003 Auburn Tigers football team

The 2003 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Auburn began the season with high expectations, but stumbled out of the gate before finishing the season with a disappointing 8–5 record, including a 5–3 record in the SEC, good for third place in the conference's Western Division. The Tigers, coached by Tommy Tuberville, began the season ranked #6 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll, but opened with consecutive losses to Southern California and Georgia Tech, dropping out of both polls.

2003 Auburn Tigers football
Music City Bowl champion
Music City Bowl, W 28–14 vs. Wisconsin
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionWestern Division
2003 record8–5 (5–3 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorHugh Nall (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorGene Chizik (2nd season)
Home stadiumJordan–Hare Stadium
(Capacity: 86,063)
2003 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
Eastern Division
No. 7 Georgia xy  6 –2     11 –3  
No. 15 Tennessee x  6 –2     10 –3  
No. 24 Florida x  6 –2     8 –5  
South Carolina  2 –6     5 –7  
Vanderbilt  1 –7     2 –10  
Kentucky  1 –7     4 –8  
Western Division
No. 2 LSU xy$#  7 –1     13 –1  
No. 13 Ole Miss x  7 –1     10 –3  
Auburn  5 –3     8 –5  
Arkansas  4 –4     9 –4  
Alabama  2 –6     4 –9  
Mississippi State  1 –7     2 –10  
Championship: LSU 34, Georgia 13
    1. – BCS National Champion
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

The Tigers won their next four games, but remained unranked in either poll until the week after pulling a 10–3 upset win over Arkansas in Fayetteville on October 11, when they re-entered the AP Poll at #19 and the Coaches' Poll at #25. Following a victory over Mississippi State the following week, the Tigers climbed to #17 and #21 in the two polls, but after a 31–7 loss to eventual national champion LSU on October 25, the Tigers did not appear in either poll for the remainder of the season. However, several computer rating systems did include Auburn in their final rankings. The Tigers were ranked #17 by the BCS participating system of The New York Times,[1] #18 by Entropy,[2] and #19 consensus ranking by CollegeTop25.com.[3]

After consecutive losses to Ole Miss, led by Eli Manning, and Georgia, the Tigers concluded a disappointing regular season by defeating arch rival Alabama, 28–23. In the postseason, Auburn knocked off Wisconsin 28–14 in the Music City Bowl, in Nashville, Tennessee.

The disappointment of the season led university president William Walker, athletic director David Housel, and other trustees to take a plane owned by trustee Bobby Lowder to meet in secret with Louisville Cardinals head coach Bobby Petrino about replacing Tuberville. This occurred prior to the Alabama game, but newspapers in Montgomery and Louisville discovered the flight and broke the news. The visit caused controversy and Tuberville was ultimately retained.

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 302:30 pmNo. 8 USC*No. 6
CBSL 0–2386,063
September 62:30 pmat Georgia Tech*No. 17
ABCL 3–1755,000
September 1311:30 amat Vanderbilt
JPSW 45–737,703
September 274:00 pmWestern Kentucky*
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, Alabama
PPVW 48–385,046
October 46:45 pmNo. 7 Tennessee
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, Alabama (rivalry)
ESPNW 28–2186,063
October 1111:30 amat No. 7 Arkansas
JPSW 10–374,026
October 181:30 pmMississippi StateNo. 19
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, Alabama
PPVW 45–1386,063
October 256:45 pmat No. 9 LSUNo. 17
ESPNL 7–3192,085
November 11:30 pmLouisiana–Monroe*
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, Alabama
W 73–781,061
November 82:30 pmNo. 20 Ole Miss
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, Alabama (rivalry)
CBSL 20–2486,063
November 152:30 pmat No. 7 Georgia
CBSL 7–2692,058
November 226:45 pmAlabama
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, Alabama (Iron Bowl)
ESPNW 28–2386,063
December 3111:00 amvs. Wisconsin*
ESPNW 28–1455,109
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Roster
2003 Auburn Tigers football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
WR 1 Devin Aromashodu So
RB 23 Ronnie Brown Jr
QB 17 Jason Campbell Jr
WR 81 Jeris McIntyre Sr
T 73 Marcus McNeill So
WR 2 Ben Obomanu So
RB 24 Carnell Williams Jr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
LB 11 Karlos Dansby Sr
DE 83 Jay Ratliff Jr
CB 14 Carlos Rogers Jr
LB 54 Dontarrious Thomas Sr
DE 82 Reggie Torbor Sr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Captains
Position Player
LB Karlos Dansby
WR Jeris McIntyre
LB Dontarrious Thomas

References
  1. https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/NCAA-RANKINGS.html
  2. http://sports.sw-tech.com/r03
  3. http://www.collegetop25.com/?s=ranks2003
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