2003 California Golden Bears football team

The 2003 California Golden Bears football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Berkeley in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second year under head coach Jeff Tedford, the Golden Bears compiled an 8–6 record (5–3 against Pac-10 opponents), finished in a tie for third place in the Pac-10, and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 457 to 341.[1][2]

2003 California Golden Bears football
Insight Bowl champion
Insight Bowl, W 52–49 vs. Virginia Tech
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
2003 record	8–6 (5–3 Pac-10)
Head coach	Jeff Tedford (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	George Cortez (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Bob Gregory (2nd season)
Captains	Lorenzo Alexander Adimchinobe Echemandu Donnie McCleskey Aaron Rodgers
Home stadium	California Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 67,537)

2003 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
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 team was led by a junior college transfer student Aaron Rodgers who was named the starting quarterback in the fifth game of the season, against Illinois.[3] In his second start, Rodgers led the team to a 21–7 halftime lead against USC (then ranked No. 3) before being replaced due to injury in the second half by Reggie Robertson.[4] The Bears won in triple overtime, 34–31.[5] Cal defeated Virginia Tech, 52–49, in the 2003 Insight Bowl, as Rodgers passed for 394 yards and was named game MVP. During the 2003 season, Rodgers tied Cal's, at the time, season record with five 300-yard games and set a Cal record for the lowest percentage of passes intercepted at 1.43%.[6]

The team's statistical leaders included Rodgers with 2,903 passing yards, Adimchinobe Echemandu with 1,195 rushing yards, and Geoff McArthur with 1,504 receiving yards.[7]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 23	6:45 p.m.	vs. No. 7 Kansas State*	Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, MO (BCA Classic)	ESPN	L 28–42	50,823
August 30	1:00 p.m.	Southern Miss*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	HDNet	W 34–2	33,552
September 6	3:00 p.m.	Colorado State*	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	FSN	L 21–23	34,096
September 11	4:45 p.m.	at Utah*	Rice-Eccles Stadium Salt Lake City, UT	ESPN	L 24–31	46,768
September 20	9:00 a.m.	at Illinois*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN+	W 31–24	58,363
September 27	3:30 p.m.	No. 3 USC	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	FSN	W 34–31 ^3OT	51,208
October 4	2:00 p.m.	Oregon State	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		L 21–35	39,150
October 18	12:30 p.m.	at UCLA	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (rivalry)	ABC	L 20–23 ^OT	53,825
October 25	12:30 p.m.	Arizona	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 42–14	33,249
November 1	12:30 p.m.	at Arizona State	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ		W 51–23	48,452
November 8	7:00 p.m.	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	TBS	L 17–21	57,511
November 15	12:30 p.m.	Washington	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 54–7	38,576
November 22	12:30 p.m.	at Stanford	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (The Big Game)	ABC	W 28–16	67,950
December 26	5:00 p.m.	vs. Virginia Tech*	Bank One Ballpark Phoenix, AZ (Insight Bowl)	ESPN	W 52–49	42,364
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

[8]

Game summaries

vs. Kansas State

California vs. #7 Kansas State

1 2 3 4 Total Golden Bears 7 7 0 14 28 • Wildcats 10 17 8 7 42 Date: August 23 Location: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri Game start: 6:45 p.m. CDT Game attendance: 50,823 Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 12:45 KSU Darren Sproles 5-yard run (Joe Rheem kick) KSU 7–0 1 10:39 Cal Vincent Strang 34-yard pass from Reggie Robertson (Tyler Fredrickson kick) Tied 7–7 1 6:29 KSU Joe Rheem 22-yard field goal KSU 10–7 2 7:37 KSU Travis Wilson 5-yard pass from Ell Roberson (Rheem kick) KSU 17–7 2 4:25 KSU Joe Rheem 37-yard field goal KSU 20–7 2 3:54 KSU James Terry 52-yard pass from Ell Roberson (Rheem kick) KSU 27–7 2 1:58 Cal Geoff McArthur 65-yard pass from Reggie Robertson (Fredrickson kick) KSU 27–14 3 8:46 KSU Ell Roberson 11-yard run (Roberson run) KSU 35–14 4 12:34 Cal J. J. Arrington 22-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Fredrickson kick) KSU 35–21 4 10:14 KSU Davin Dennis 28-yard pass from Ell Roberson (Rheem kick) KSU 42–21 4 4:27 Cal J. J. Arrington 7-yard pass from Reggie Robertson (Fredrickson kick) KSU 42–28

See also: 2003 Kansas State Wildcats football team and BCA Classic

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

USC

#3 USC at California

1 2 3 4 OT 2OT 3OT Total USC 7 0 14 3 0 7 0 31 • California 7 14 0 3 0 7 3 34 Date: September 27 Location: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California Game start: 6:30 p.m. EST Source: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 11:02 CAL Aaron Rodgers 3 yard run (Tyler Frederickson kick) CAL 7-0 1 2:47 USC Dominique Byrd 27 yard pass from Matt Leinart (Ryan Killeen kick) Tied 7-7 2 14:12 CAL Garrett Cross 2 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Tyler Frederickson kick) CAL 14-7 2 8:09 CAL Burl Toler 27 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Tyler Frederickson kick) CAL 21-7 3 7:26 USC LenDale White 6 yard run (Ryan Killeen kick) CAL 21-14 3 7:16 USC Lofa Tatupu 26 yard interception return (Ryan Killeen kick) Tied 21-21 4 9:04 CAL Tyler Frederickson 51 yard field goal CAL 24-21 4 0:16 USC Ryan Killeen 33 yard field goal Tied 24-24 2OT CAL Jonathan Makonnen 20 yard pass from Reggie Robertson (Tyler Frederickson kick) CAL 31-24 2OT USC Keary Colbert 10 yard pass from Matt Leinart (Ryan Killeen kick) Tied 31-31 3OT CAL Tyler Frederickson 38 yard field goal CAL 34-31

• "They always take us lightly", said receiver Jonathan Makonnen, who had seven catches for 104 yards. "They really don't respect us. They're a talented team, but they were kind of lackadaisical out there."
• "I'm not knocking Leinart or their running backs, but I didn't see a whole lot of firepower from them", said Echemandu, the first player to rush for 100 yards against USC in 16 games. "Mike Williams is basically their whole offense."
• The loss was USC's last until the 2006 National Championship Game, in which Texas snapped USC's 34-game win streak.
• Aaron Rogers was the starter as Cal's quarterback, but due to injury he was replaced in the second half by Reggie Robertson.[4]

Washington

1 2 3 4 Total Washington 0 7 0 0 7 • California 13 20 7 14 54 Date: November 15 Location: Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California Game start: 12:30 p.m. EST

Scoring summary 1 14:42 CAL Geoff McArthur 79 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Tyler Frederickson kick) California 7–0 1 9:39 CAL Tyler Frederickson 20 yard field goal California 10–0 1 2:36 CAL Tyler Frederickson 20 yard field goal California 13–0 2 14:45 CAL Brandon Hall 13 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (run failed) California 19–0 2 12:06 WASH Zach Tuiasosopo 3 yard run (Evan Knudson kick) California 19–7 2 11:26 CAL Vincent Strang 12 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Tyler Frederickson kick) California 26–7 2 9:04 CAL J.J. Arrington 15 yard run (Tyler Frederickson kick) California 33–7 3 10:30 CAL Aaron Rodgers 1 yard run (Tyler Frederickson kick) California 40–7 4 11:59 CAL Marcus O'Keith 48 yard run (Tyler Frederickson kick) California 47–7 4 2:44 CAL Michael Porter 51 yard run (Tyler Frederickson kick) California 54–7

[9]

Stanford

California at Stanford

1 2 3 4 Total • California 0 0 7 21 28 Stanford 10 0 0 6 16 Date: November 22 Location: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California Game start: 3:30 p.m. EST Source: ESPN

Scoring summary 1 12:30 STAN Michael Sgroi 22 yard field goal STAN 3-0 1 10:03 STAN Luke Powell 24 yard pass from Chris Lewis (Michael Sgroi kick) STAN 10-0 3 11:03 CAL Geoff McArthur 44 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Tyler Frederickson kick) STAN 10-7 4 14:55 CAL Vincent Strang 14 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Tyler Frederickson kick) CAL 14-10 4 10:07 CAL Geoff McArthur 21 yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Tyler Frederickson kick) CAL 21-10 4 1:39 CAL Adimchinobe Echemandu 17 yard run (Tyler Frederickson kick) CAL 28-10 4 0:00 STAN Mark Bradford 20 yard pass from Chris Lewis (pass failed) CAL 28-16

• CAL: Aaron Rodgers 26/37, 359 Yds
• CAL: Geoff McArthur 16 Rec, 245 Yds (single game record – Dameane Douglas, 1998)
• CAL: bowl eligible for first time since 1996

Roster

2003 California Golden Bears football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense 60 Jonathon Murphy OL 6-5 315 SO SQ 10-3-83 Hanford (Hanford HS) 61 Ryan O'Callaghan OL 6-7 330 SO 1V 7-19-83 Redding (Enterprise HS) Pos. # Name Class QB 8 Aaron Rodgers So RB 18 Adimchinobe Echemandu Sr RB 30 J. J. Arrington Jr OL 63 Mark Wilson Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 20 Matt Giordano Jr DB 21 Donnie McCleskey So CB 22 Tim Mixon  Fr DE 90 Ryan Riddle Jr DE 91 Monte Parson Sr DT 99 L. P. Ladouceur Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Jeff Tedford Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 2003-12-13

References

1. "2003 California Golden Bears Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
2. "California 2015 Football Information Guide" (PDF). CalBears.com. Cal Golden Bears Athletics. p. 166. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
3. "Player Bio:Aaron Rodgers". University of California. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
4. "Cal-USC Postgame Quotes". Cal Athletics. September 27, 2003. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
5. "Cal fans storm field after win". ESPN. September 27, 2003. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
6. "Cal Records". University of California. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
7. "2003 California Golden Bears Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
8. 2011 California football information guide
9. "California 54, Washington 7". ESPN. November 15, 2003. Retrieved December 28, 2014.