2003 Auburn Tigers football
Music City Bowl champion
Music City Bowl, W 28–14 vs. Wisconsin
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionWestern Division
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
ConfOverall
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
  • # – BCS National Champion
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

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.

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 pmNo. 3 (I-AA) Western Kentucky*
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, AL
PPVW 48–385,046
October 46:45 pmNo. 7 Tennessee
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, AL (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, AL
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, AL
W 73–781,061
November 82:30 pmNo. 20 Ole Miss
  • Jordan–Hare Stadium
  • Auburn, AL (rivalry)
CBSL 20–2486,063
November 152:30 pmat No. 7 Georgia
CBSL 7–2692,058
November 226:45 pmAlabama
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
QB 12 Brandon Cox Fr
G 65 Monreko Crittenden Sr
WR 85 Silas Daniels Jr
G 76 Tim Duckworth Fr
OT 77 King Dunlap Fr
RB 5 Brandon Jacobs Jr
WR 81 Jeris McIntyre Sr
OT 73 Marcus McNeill So
TE 9 Anthony Mix So
WR 2 Ben Obomanu So
G 79 Jonathan Palmer Fr
G 66 Troy Reddick So
RB 22 Tre Smith So
RB 32 Carl Stewart Fr
QB 13 Josh Sullivan Fr
WR 86 Courtney Taylor Fr
TE 8 Cooper Wallace So
RB 24 Carnell Williams Jr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
SS 33 Eric Brock Fr
LB 11 Karlos Dansby Sr
SS 21 Karibi Dede Fr
DE 54 Quentin Groves Fr
DT 90 Ben Grubbs Fr
DE 48 Marquies Gunn Fr
FS 35 Will Herring Fr
CB 6 Kevin Hobbs Jr
CB 4 David Irons Jr
NG 58 T. J. Jackson So
DT 53 Spencer Johnson Sr
CB 20 Pat Lee Fr
DE 75 Stanley McClover Fr
DE 83 Jay Ratliff Jr
CB 14 Carlos Rogers Jr
LB 56 LeMarcus Rowell So
LB 54 Dontarrious Thomas Sr
NG 97 Josh Thompson Fr
DE 82 Reggie Torbor Sr
LB 51 Travis Williams So
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
P 30 Kody Bliss Fr
K 37 John Vaughn Fr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured Injured
  • Redshirt Redshirt

Roster

Captains

Position Player
LB Karlos Dansby
WR Jeris McIntyre
LB Dontarrious Thomas

References

  1. ↑ "The New York Times's Computer Ranking". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "CollegeTOP25.com - 2003 Final NCAA FBS D1A CFB Top 25 Consensus Rankings (CFB Bowl Subdivision)". www.collegetop25.com.
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