2003 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

2003 Big East Conference football standings
	$ – BCS representative as conference champion; + – Conference co-champions; Rankings from AP Poll

2003 Pittsburgh Panthers football
2003 Pittsburgh Panthers football
Continental Tire Bowl, L 16–23 vs. Virginia Cavaliers
Conference	Big East Conference
2003 record	8–5 (5–2 Big East)
Head coach	Walt Harris (7th season);
Offensive coordinator	J. D. Brookhart (4th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Paul Rhoads (4th season)
Base defense	Multiple 8-man front
Home stadium	Heinz Field; (Capacity: 64,450)
	Seasons ← 2002 2004 →

The 2003 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 6	7:00 p.m.	Kent State*	No. 10	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA		W 43–3	56,531
September 13	12:30 p.m.	Ball State*	No. 11	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA		W 42–21	44,117
September 20	7:00 p.m.	at Toledo*	No. 9	Glass Bowl Toledo, OH		L 31–35	31,711
September 27	3:30 p.m.	at Texas A&M*	No. 17	Kyle Field College Station, TX	ABC	W 37–26	79,116
October 11	6:00 p.m.	Notre Dame*	No. 15	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 14–20	66,421
October 18	1:30 p.m.	at Rutgers		Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, NJ		W 42–32	28,101
October 25	12:00 p.m.	Syracuse		Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ESPN+	W 34–14	61,421
November 1	1:00 p.m.	at Boston College	No. 25	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA		W 24–13	41,983
November 8	7:45 p.m.	No. 5 Virginia Tech	No. 25	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA (College GameDay)	ESPN	W 31–28	66,207
November 15	7:00 p.m.	at West Virginia	No. 16	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Backyard Brawl)	ESPN2	L 31–52	67,715
November 22	1:30 p.m.	at Temple	No. 21	Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA		W 30–16	22,934
November 29	8:00 p.m.	No. 10 Miami (FL)	No. 20	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA	ABC	L 14–28	60,486
December 27	11:00 a.m.	vs. Virginia*		Ericsson Stadium Charlotte, NC (Continental Tire Bowl)	ESPN	L 16–23	51,236
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Coaching staff[]

2003 Pittsburgh Panthers football staff

	Coaching Staff Walt Harris – Head Coach Bob Junko – Assistant Head Coach/Defensive tackles J.D. Brookhart – Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers Paul Rhoads – Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Dino Babers – Running Backs Curtis Bray – Linebackers Bryan Deal – Recruiting Coordinator/Specialists/Quarterbacks Tom Freeman – Offensive Line/Run Game Coordinator Bob Ligashesky – Tight Ends/Special Teams Charlie Partridge – Defensive Ends			Support Staff Chris LaSala – Assistant Athletic Director/Football Operations Matt Williamson – Recruiting Assistant Scott McCurley – Graduate Assistant Ben McAdoo – Graduate Assistant			Strength and Conditioning Staff Dave Kennedy – Strength and Conditioning Coach Dave Langworthy – Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach

Awards and honors[]

Larry Fitzgerald: Fred Biletnikoff Award,^[1] Walter Camp Award,^[2] Unanimous All-American

Team Players drafted into the NFL[]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Larry Fitzgerald	Wide receiver	1	3	Arizona Cardinals
Shawntae Spencer	Defensive back	2	58	San Francisco 49ers
Kris Wilson	Tight end	2	61	Kansas City Chiefs
Claude Harriott	Defensive end	5	147	Chicago Bears
Andy Lee	Punter	6	188	San Francisco 49ers
Brandon Miree	Running back	7	247	Denver Broncos

^[3]

References[]

^ "The Biletnikoff Award". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
^ "Football".
^ "2004 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-23.

[1] "The Biletnikoff Award". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2011-07-24.

[2] "Football".

[3] "2004 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 2007-12-23.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t Pittsburgh Panthers football
Venues	Recreation Park (1898–1899) Exposition Park (1900) Schenley Park (1901) Coliseum (1902–1903) Exposition Park (1904–1908) Forbes Field (1909–1924) Pitt Stadium (1925–1999) Three Rivers Stadium (2000) Heinz Field (2001–present) UPMC Sports Performance Complex (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Cincinnati (River City Rivalry) Notre Dame Penn State Syracuse West Virginia (Backyard Brawl)
Culture & lore	Panthers "Hail to Pitt" "Pitt Victory Song" Marching band 1921 Backyard Brawl (first college football game to be radio broadcasted) 2007 Backyard Brawl Highest-scoring game
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

2003 Big East Conference football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
No. 5 Miami (FL) $+		6	–	1		11	–	2
West Virginia +		6	–	1		8	–	5
Pittsburgh		5	–	2		8	–	5
Virginia Tech		4	–	3		8	–	5
Boston College		3	–	4		8	–	5
Syracuse		2	–	5		6	–	6
Rutgers		2	–	5		5	–	7
Temple		0	–	7		1	–	11

$ – BCS representative as conference champion + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll