2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

2003 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 Florida Atlantic ^		–		11	–	3
Cal Poly		–		7	–	4
Southeastern Louisiana		–		5	–	7
Southern Utah		–		4	–	7
Saint Mary's		–		1	–	11
FIU		–		0	–	10
Savannah State		–		0	–	12

^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Record adjusted for 2 vacated wins by FIU Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2003 was the last year Cal Poly competed as an NCAA Division I-AA independent. In 2004 they would become a charter member of the new Great West Football Conference. The 2003 Mustangs were led by third-year head coach Rich Ellerson and played home games at Mustang Stadium in San Luis Obispo, California. The team finished the season with a record of three wins and eight losses (7–4). Overall, the team outscored its opponents 316–241 for the season.

Schedule edit

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 6	at UTEP		Sun Bowl El Paso, Texas	W 34–13
September 13	Sacramento State^{[note 2]}	No. 25	Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, California	W 31–17	7,506^[1]
September 20	No. 11 Montana State	No. 21	Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, California	W 24–21
September 27	at No. 25 Northern Arizona	No. 14	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona	L 7–24
October 4	at No. 8 Montana	No. 20	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, Montana	L 14–17	23,687^[2]
October 11	at Akron	No. 24	Rubber Bowl Akron, Ohio	L 14–45
October 18	Saint Mary's (CA)		Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, California	W 54–10
November 1	Southern Utah		Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, California	W 33–21
November 8	at UC Davis		Toomey Field Davis, California (Rivalry)	W 18–14
November 15	Idaho State	No. 20	Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, California	L 18–31
November 22	Humboldt State		Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, California	W 56–21
Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game

No Cal Poly Mustang players were selected in the 2004 NFL Draft.^[5]^[6]^[7]

The following finished their college career in 2003, were not drafted, but played in the NFL.

Player	Position	First NFL team
David Richardson	Defensive back	2004 Jacksonville Jaguars

^ The official name of Cal Poly is California Polytechnic State University. However, it has been more commonly known as either Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or just Cal Poly since 1947.
^ The official name of Sacramento State has been California State University, Sacramento since 1972. However, it is still commonly known as Sacramento State.