2003 USC Trojans football team

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.

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)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Base defense	4–3
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 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.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
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
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
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

Team	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.

Personnel

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

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. Its legacy included many NFL draft picks over several years, including four first-round picks.

2006 NFL draft:

Reggie Bush (Round 1, Pick 2)
Matt Leinart (Round 1, Pick 10)
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)


1	12:38	USC	Mike Williams 5 yard pass from Matt Leinart (Ryan Killeen kick)	USC 7-0

1	3:21	USC	Ryan Killeen 28 yard field goal	USC 10-0

3	11:50	USC	Ryan Killeen 42 yard field goal	USC 13-0

3	7:22	USC	Ryan Killeen 35 yard field goal	USC 16-0

4	13:51	USC	Hershel Dennis 14 yard run (Ryan Killeen kick)	USC 23-0