The 2003–04 NCAA football bowl games were a series of 28 post-season games (including the Bowl Championship Series) played in December 2003 and January 2004 for Division I-A football teams and their all-stars. The post-season began with the New Orleans Bowl on December 16, 2003, and concluded on January 31, 2004, with the season-ending Gridiron Classic.
| 2003–04 NCAA football bowl games | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Gameplay during the BCS National Championship Sugar Bowl for the 2003 season | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of bowls | 28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All-star games | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl games | December 16, 2003 – January 4, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Championship | 2004 Sugar Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location of Championship | Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Champions | LSU Tigers (BCS/Coaches) & USC Trojans (AP) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl Challenge Cup winner | ACC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A total of 28 team-competitive games, and two all-star games, were played. To fill the 56 available bowl slots, four teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—all four had a .500 (6–6) season. While teams that did not have winning seasons were invited to bowl games, seven teams with winning records were left out: Northern Illinois (10–2); Connecticut (9-3); Marshall and Toledo (both 8–4); Air Force and Akron (both 7–5); and South Florida (7–4).
Poll rankings edit
The below table lists top teams (per polls taken after the completion of the regular season and any conference championship games), their win–loss records (prior to bowl games), and the bowls they later played in. The AP column represents rankings per the AP Poll,[1] while the BCS column represents the Bowl Championship Series rankings.[2]
† denotes a BCS bowl game
Schedule edit
Conference bowl representation edit
| Conference | Bowl Appearances | Top 25 (December 7 Polls) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Record | % | Winners | Losers | # | Teams | AP Rank | CP Rank | ||
| Mid-American | 2 | 2–0 | 1.000 | Miami (Ohio) Bowling Green |
1 | Miami (Ohio) | #14 | #15 | ||
| ACC | 6 | 5–1 | 0.833 | Maryland Georgia Tech Clemson NC State Virginia |
Florida State | 2 | Florida State | #9 | #8 | |
| Maryland | #23 | #24 | ||||||||
| Western Athletic | 4 | 3–1 | 0.750 | Boise State Hawaii Fresno State |
Tulsa | 1 | Boise State | #18 | #16 | |
| SEC | 7 | 5–2 | 0.714 | LSU Georgia Mississippi Auburn Arkansas |
Tennessee Florida |
5 | LSU | #2 | #2 | |
| Tennessee | #6 | #7 | ||||||||
| Georgia | #11 | #11 | ||||||||
| Mississippi | #16 | #18 | ||||||||
| Florida | #17 | #17 | ||||||||
| Pac-10 | 6 | 4–2 | 0.667 | USC Washington State Oregon State California |
Oregon UCLA |
2 | USC | #1 | #1 | |
| Washington State | #15 | #14 | ||||||||
| Big East | 5 | 2–3 | 0.400 | Miami Boston College |
West Virginia Virginia Tech Pittsburgh |
2 | Miami | #10 | #9 | |
| West Virginia | #20 | #23 | ||||||||
| Big 10 | 8 | 3–5 | 0.375 | Ohio State Iowa Minnesota |
Michigan Purdue Michigan State Wisconsin Northwestern |
5 | Michigan | #4 | #4 | |
| Ohio State | #7 | #6 | ||||||||
| Iowa | #13 | #12 | ||||||||
| Purdue | #12 | #13 | ||||||||
| Minnesota | #24 | #20 | ||||||||
| Mountain West | 3 | 1–2 | 0.333 | Utah | New Mexico Colorado State |
1 | Utah | #25 | #25 | |
| Big 12 | 8 | 2–6 | 0.250 | Nebraska Texas Tech |
Oklahoma Texas Kansas State Oklahoma State Kansas Missouri |
5 | Oklahoma | #3 | #3 | |
| Texas | #5 | #5 | ||||||||
| Kansas State | #8 | #10 | ||||||||
| Nebraska | #22 | #21 | ||||||||
| Oklahoma State | #21 | #22 | ||||||||
| Conference USA | 5 | 1–4 | 0.200 | Memphis | TCU Louisville Houston Southern Miss |
1 | TCU | #19 | #19 | |
| Sun Belt | 1 | 0–1 | 0.000 | North Texas | 0 | none | ||||
| Independents | 1 | 0–1 | 0.000 | Navy | 0 | none | ||||
All-star games edit
| Date | Game | Winning Team | Losing Team | Venue | City | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 10, 2004 | East–West Shrine Game | West Team | 28 | East Team | 7 | SBC Park | San Francisco, California |
| January 17, 2004 | Las Vegas All-American Classic | West Team | 14 | East Team | 7 | Sam Boyd Stadium | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| January 17, 2004 | Hula Bowl | South (Aina) | 26 | North (Kai) | 7 | War Memorial Stadium | Wailuku, Hawaii |
| January 24, 2004 | Senior Bowl | South Team | 28 | North Team | 10 | Ladd–Peebles Stadium | Mobile, Alabama |
| January 31, 2004 | Gridiron Classic | North All-Stars | 35 | South All-Stars | 31 | The Villages Polo Stadium | The Villages, Florida |
References edit
- ^ "AP Poll". Tampa Bay Times. December 8, 2003. p. 49. Retrieved December 5, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Bowl Championship Series Rankings". Tampa Bay Times. December 8, 2003. p. 49. Retrieved December 5, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "ESPN College FB Scoreboard (2003)". Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ^ a b "2003-2004 Bowl Results (about.com)". Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2009.