2003 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

2003 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Alamo Bowl champion
Alamo Bowl, W 17–3 vs. Michigan State
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
AP	No. 19
2003 record	10–3 (5–3 Big 12)
Head coach	Frank Solich (first 12 games, 9-3, 6th season) Bo Pelini (bowl game, 1-0, Interim)
Offensive coordinator	Barney Cotton (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Bo Pelini (1st season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 73,918)
Seasons ← 2002 2004 →

2003 Big 12 Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Northern Division
No. 14 Kansas State x$		6	–	2					11	–	4
No. 19 Nebraska		5	–	3					10	–	3
Missouri		4	–	4					8	–	5
Kansas		3	–	5					6	–	7
Colorado		3	–	5					5	–	7
Iowa State		0	–	8					2	–	10
Southern Division
No. 3 Oklahoma x%		8	–	0					12	–	2
No. 12 Texas		7	–	1					10	–	3
Oklahoma State		5	–	3					9	–	4
Texas Tech		4	–	4					8	–	5
Texas A&M		2	–	6					4	–	8
Baylor		1	–	7					3	–	9
Championship: Kansas State 35, Oklahoma 7
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 2003 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Frank Solich and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. After the Colorado game, Solich was fired as head coach. Defensive coordinator Bo Pelini served as interim head coach for the Alamo Bowl.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	2:30 pm	No. 24 Oklahoma State		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	W 17–7	78,058
September 6	11:30 am	Utah State*	No. 23	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	FSN	W 31–7	77,284
September 13	7:00 pm	Penn State*	No. 18	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	W 18–10	78,008
September 25	6:45 pm	at Southern Miss*	No. 15	M. M. Roberts Stadium Hattiesburg, MS	ESPN	W 38–14	36,125
October 4	12:30 pm	Troy State*	No. 12	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		W 30–0	77,825
October 11	6:00 pm	at Missouri	No. 10	Faurot Field Columbia, MO (rivalry)	TBS	L 24–41	68,349
October 18	11:30 am	Texas A&M	No. 18	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	FSN	W 48–12	77,604
October 25	11:30 am	Iowa State	No. 14	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	PPV	W 28–0	77,483
November 1	11:00 am	at No. 16 Texas	No. 12	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	ABC	L 7–31	83,308
November 8	2:30 pm	at Kansas	No. 19	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	FSN	W 24–3	50,107
November 15	2:30 pm	Kansas State	No. 18	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	L 9–38	78,014
November 28	11:00 am	at Colorado	No. 25	Folsom Field Boulder, CO (rivalry)	ABC	W 31–22	53,434
December 29	8:00 pm	vs. Michigan State*	No. 22	Alamodome San Antonio, TX (Alamo Bowl)	ESPN	W 17–3	56,229
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[1]

Roster and coaching staff[]

2003 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OG 71 Jake Andersen Jr TE Matt Ankerson Fr C 65 Greg Austin Fr WR 38 Brandon Biodrowski Jr WR 19 Andy Birkel Fr OL Aaron Burbach Fr OG 59 Brett Byford Fr QB 12 Joe Dailey Fr FB 4 Judd Davies (C) Sr IB 1 Josh Davis Sr OG 67 Darren DeLone Jr WR Dan Erickson Fr OG 78 Mike Erickson Jr WR 28 Isaiah Fluellen RFr QB 17 Garth Glissman So IB 30 Tierre Green Fr OG 72 Tim Green Sr FB 6 DeAntae Grixby Sr C 58 Justin Haney RFr IB 36 Ben Hansen Fr TE 11 Matt Herian So TE Sean Hill Fr IB 9 David Horne So OT 51 Richie Incognito So WR 31 Joel Jackson Jr TE Patrick Johnson Fr TE 47 Dusty Keiser Jr WR 49 Tyler Kenney RFr TE 46 John Knopp So OG 75 Brandon Koch So FB 45 Steve Kriewald Jr WR Chris LeFlore Fr WR 10 Mark LeFlore So OG 66 Jermaine Leslie RFr WR 13 Tim Liley Sr C 63 Jack Limbaugh Sr QB 15 Brett Lindstrom Sr OT 74 Newton Lingenfelter RFr OT 76 Chris Loos Sr QB 5 Jammal Lord (C) Sr C 64 Kurt Mann RFr WR 18 Mike McLaughlin So FB 30 Grant Miller RFr IB 21 Robin Miller Sr QB Zach Miller Fr TE 81 Josh Mueller Fr WR 84 Grant Mulkey RFr OG 61 Brian Nelson Sr WR 24 Jack O'Holleran Jr TE 86 Adam O'Rourke RFr WR 8 Ryan Ommert Sr OL Charlie Peacock Fr TE 82 Phil Peetz Sr TE 85 J.B. Phillips Fr OT 56 Gary Pike So WR 2 Ross Pilkington So WR 25 Kade Pittman Fr OT 69 Nick Povendo Jr IB 22 Cory Ross So TE Andy Sand Fr OG 54 Carson Schott So WR 14 Matt Schroeder So OT 70 Ryan Schuler Fr TE 83 Chris Septak Jr C 79 Josh Sewell Sr TE 80 Alex Shada Jr FB Scott Siegel Fr OL Jeff Speichinger Fr WR 35 Dusty Stamer Jr WR 17 Seth Starkebaum RFr QB 16 Mike Stuntz Jr OG 55 Junior Tagoa'i Sr OT 57 Cory Timm RFr FB 41 Dane Todd RFr OT 68 Dan Vili Waldrop Sr OT 53 Cody Volk Sr OT 73 Sam Wells Jr WR 20 Kiffin Wigert Jr FB 34 Andy Wingender Sr TE 44 Matthew Woodward So WR 3 Ben Zajicek Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DE 96 Titus Adams So RCB 27 Willie Amos Jr MIKE 61 Peter Atha So NT 59 Ryon Bingham Sr CB 16 Cole Biodrowski So SS 21 Philip Bland Jr DE 34 Stewart Bradley RFr LCB 12 Titus Brothers Fr DT 65 Chris Bryant RFr WILL 39 Chad Buller Sr SS 14 Daniel Bullocks So FS 20 Josh Bullocks So FS 36 Dan Burrow Jr LCB 4 Terrell Butler Sr DE 90 Adam Carriker RFr BUCK 11 Ira Cooper Jr CB 6 Donald DeFrand So BUCK 48 Charlie Denman So DB Ben Eisenhart Fr DT 97 Seppo Evwaraye So NT 62 Anthony Fisher RFr FS 15 Tyler Fisher So WILL 41 Jared Franzluebbers So DB Travis Gingery Fr NT 99 Brandon Greeson RFr CB 26 Kevin Guse Sr NT 73 Jared Helming So BUCK 2 T.J. Hollowell Sr WILL 40 Lannie Hopkins Jr CB 29 Kellen Huston Jr WILL 49 Adam Ickes So DE 88 Trevor Johnson (C) Sr DT 94 Patrick Kabongo Sr DT 95 Nathan Krug So BUCK 43 Kristopher Lewin RFr NT 70 Jason Lohr Sr DE Kevin Luhrs Fr FS 32 Derek Matteo Jr DE 50 Jeff McBride Jr WILL 13 Corey McKeon Fr RCB 1 Lornell McPherson Jr DE 44 Jay Moore RFr DE 57 Wali Muhammad So DE 56 Trevor Neemann Fr NT 63 Matt O'Shea So DE 98 Chris Patrick Fr FS 31 Jerrell Pippens Sr DE Andy Poulosky Fr MIKE 53 Mitch Reeves RFr DE Thomas Rice Fr RCB 28 Pat Ricketts Sr SS 24 Brandon Rigoni RFr CB 30 Joey Robison So BUCK 51 Bo Ruud Fr MIKE 38 Barrett Ruud Jr MIKE 42 Steve Safranek Sr CB 8 Andrew Shanle RFr DT 76 Matt Shrader Jr SS 23 Shane Siegel So MIKE 54 Chad Sievers Jr DT 66 Le Kevin Smith So DT 74 Brandon Teamer Fr DE 5 Benard Thomas Jr CB 10 Fred Thorne Sr SS 25 Blake Tiedtke So DE 93 Tyler Toline Jr MIKE 35 Curt Tomasevicz Sr LCB 3 Fabian Washington So CB 33 Seth White Sr SS 9 Delrick Williams Sr WILL 7 Demorrio Williams (C) Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK 22 Sandro DeAngelis Jr PK 27 David Dyches Fr PK 32 Dale Endorf Sr P Tyler Kester Fr P 37 Sam Koch So P 19 Kyle Larson Sr PK Eric Lueshen Fr PK Jared Nielsen Fr LS Jake Peetz Fr	Head coach Frank Solich    6th season    25th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Coordinators/assistant coaches Turner Gill    1st season as AHC/QB coach    12th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Barney Cotton    1st season as OC/OL coach    1st year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Bo Pelini    1st season as DC/LB coach    1st year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Ohio State Tim Albin    1st season as RB/PG coach    1st year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Northwestern Oklahoma    1st season as WR coach    17th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Brown Scott Downing    1st season as TE/ST coach    4th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Sterling Jeff Jamrog    1st season as DL/DE coach    6th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Marvin Sanders    1st season as Sec coach    1st year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Jimmy Williams    1st season as LB coach    1st year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Boyd Epley    35th season as S&C coach    35th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: January 16, 2011

Depth chart[]

Game summaries[]

Oklahoma State[]

Oklahoma State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Oklahoma State 7 0 0 0 7 • Nebraska 3 0 14 0 17 Date: August 30 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 2:37 p.m. CST Game attendance: 78,058 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play-by-play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Utah State[]

Utah State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Utah State 7 0 0 0 7 • Nebraska 6 9 13 3 31 Date: September 6 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 11:40 a.m. CST Game attendance: 77,284 TV announcers (FSN): Joel Meyers (Play-by-play), Dave Lapham (Color) & (Sideline)

Penn State[]

Penn State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Penn State 0 10 0 0 10 • Nebraska 3 6 6 3 18 Date: September 13 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 7:07 p.m. CST Game attendance: 78,008 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play-by-play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Southern Miss[]

Nebraska at Southern Miss [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 17 0 14 7 38 Southern Miss 0 7 0 7 14 Date: September 25 Location: M. M. Roberts Stadium, Hattiesburg, Mississippi Game start: 6:45 p.m. CST Game attendance: 36,125 TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Tirico (Play-by-play), Lee Corso (Color), Kirk Herbstreit (Color) & Dr. Jerry Punch (Sideline)

Troy State[]

Troy State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Troy State 0 0 0 0 0 • Nebraska 3 7 13 7 30 Date: October 4 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 12:30 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,825

Missouri[]

Nebraska at Missouri [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 7 3 14 0 24 • Missouri 7 7 0 27 41 Date: October 11 Location: Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri Game start: 6:10 p.m. CST Game attendance: 68,349 TV announcers (TBS): Ron Thulin (Play-by-play), Charles Davis (Color), Erin Andrews (Sideline) & Craig Sager (Sideline)

Texas A&M[]

Texas A&M at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Texas A&M 3 0 3 6 12 • Nebraska 20 0 14 14 48 Date: October 18 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 11:40 a.m. CST Game attendance: 77,604 TV announcers (FSN): Bill Land (Play-by-play), Dave Lapham (Color) & (Sideline)

Iowa State[]

Iowa State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Iowa State 0 0 0 0 0 • Nebraska 21 7 0 0 28 Date: October 25 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 11:40 a.m. CST Game attendance: 77,483 TV announcers (PPV): Dave Armstrong (Play-by-play), Eric Crouch (Color) & Bill Doleman (Sideline)

Texas[]

Nebraska at Texas [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 0 0 7 7 • Texas 7 7 3 14 31 Date: November 1 Location: Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas Game start: 11:10 a.m. CST Game attendance: 83,308 TV announcers (ABC): Gary Thorne (Play-by-play), David Norrie (Color)

Kansas[]

Nebraska at Kansas [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 3 7 7 7 24 Kansas 0 3 0 0 3 Date: November 8 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kansas Game start: 2:40 p.m. CST Game attendance: 50,107 TV announcers (FSN): Bill Land (Play-by-play), Gary Reasons (Color) & (Sideline)

Kansas State[]

Kansas State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Kansas State 7 0 10 21 38 Nebraska 0 7 0 2 9 Date: November 15 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 2:36 p.m. CST Game attendance: 78,014 TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play-by-play), Gary Danielson (Color) & Jack Arute (Sideline)

Colorado[]

Nebraska at Colorado [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 7 14 0 10 31 Colorado 7 9 6 0 22 Date: November 28 Location: Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado Game start: 11:10 a.m. CST Game attendance: 53,434 TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson (Play-by-play), Dan Fouts (Color) & Todd Harris (Sideline)

Michigan State[]

Michigan State vs Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Michigan State 3 0 0 0 3 • Nebraska 3 14 0 0 17 Date: December 29 Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas Game start: 8:05 p.m. CST Game attendance: 56,229 TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Tirico (Play-by-play), Lee Corso (Color), Kirk Herbstreit (Color) & Dr. Jerry Punch (Sideline)

Rankings[]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	RV	RV*	23	18	15	15	12	10	19	14	12	19	18	23	25	23	22	19
Coaches Poll	RV	RV	24	18	15	11	8	7	14	11	9	16	15	23	23	21	21	18
BCS	Not released									11	9	18	17	22	23	21	20	Not released

After the season[]

Nebraska finished in 2nd place in the Big 12 North Division and tied for 4th conference-wide, with a final record of 10–3 (5–3). Prior to the season, Head Coach Frank Solich was feeling pressure to perform after a 7–7 (3–5) record the previous year (the first non-winning season since 1961), and had significantly revamped his coaching staff for 2003.

Despite the sweeping changes and the improvements they brought, which helped Nebraska to another 9-win season, Solich was fired at the conclusion of the regular season. Defensive Coordinator Bo Pelini was named Interim Head Coach and led the Huskers to a 17–3 Alamo Bowl win over Michigan State. When new Head Coach Bill Callahan was announced in later weeks, most of the existing assistants (including Pelini) were also fired.

Pelini would later return as Callahan's replacement in 2008.

Awards[]

^[2]

Award	Name(s)
All-America 1st team	Josh Bullocks, Kyle Larson
All-America honorable mention	Richie Incognito, Demorrio Williams
All-Big 12 1st team	Josh Bullocks, Matt Herian, Richie Incognito, Kyle Larson, Demorrio Williams
All-Big 12 2nd team	Ryon Bingham, Barrett Ruud
All-Big 12 3rd team	Fabian Washington
All-Big 12 honorable mention	Daniel Bullocks, Josh Davis, Mike Erickson, Isaiah Fluellen, T. J. Hollowell, Trevor Johnson, Jammal Lord, Josh Sewell, Dan Vili Waldrop

NFL and pro players[]

The following Nebraska players who participated in the 2003 season later moved on to the next level and joined a professional or semi-pro team as draftees or free agents.^[3]

Name	Team
Titus Adams	New York Jets
Ryon Bingham	San Diego Chargers
Stewart Bradley	Philadelphia Eagles
Daniel Bullocks	Detroit Lions
Josh Bullocks	New Orleans Saints
Adam Carriker	St. Louis Rams
Josh Davis	New York Jets
Aaron Golliday	Scottish Claymores
T. J. Hollowell	New York Giants
Richie Incognito	St. Louis Rams
Trevor Johnson	New York Jets
Patrick Kabongo	Detroit Lions
Sam Koch	Baltimore Ravens
Kyle Larson	Cincinnati Bengals
Jammal Lord	Houston Texans
Jay Moore	San Francisco 49ers
Chris Patrick	New York Giants
Jerrell Pippens	Chicago Bears
Andy Poulosky	Sioux City Bandits
Cory Ross	Baltimore Ravens
Barrett Ruud	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Bo Ruud	New England Patriots
Le Kevin Smith	New England Patriots
Fabian Washington	Oakland Raiders
Demorrio Williams	Atlanta Falcons

References[]