2002–03 NCAA football bowl games explained

Season:2002
Number Of Bowls:28
All Star Games:5
Bowl Start:December 17, 2002
Bowl End:
January 3, 2003
Championship Bowl:2003 Fiesta Bowl
Championship Location:Sun Devil Stadium,
Tempe, Arizona
Champions:Ohio State Buckeyes
Bowl Challenge Cup:Big Ten[1]
Conference1:Big 12
Conference1 Teams:8
Conference1 Wins:5
Conference1 Losses:3
Conference1 Ap Poll:4
Conference2:ACC
Conference2 Teams:7
Conference2 Wins:4
Conference2 Losses:3
Conference2 Ap Poll:4
Conference3:Big Ten
Conference3 Teams:7
Conference3 Wins:5
Conference3 Losses:2
Conference3 Ap Poll:4
Conference4:Pac-10
Conference4 Teams:7
Conference4 Wins:2
Conference4 Losses:5
Conference4 Ap Poll:2
Conference5:SEC
Conference5 Teams:7
Conference5 Wins:3
Conference5 Losses:4
Conference5 Ap Poll:3
Conference6:Big East
Conference6 Teams:5
Conference6 Wins:3
Conference6 Losses:2
Conference6 Ap Poll:4
Conference7:Conference USA
Conference7 Teams:5
Conference7 Wins:2
Conference7 Losses:3
Conference7 Ap Poll:1
Conference8:Mountain West
Conference8 Teams:3
Conference8 Wins:0
Conference8 Losses:3
Conference8 Ap Poll:0
Conference9:WAC
Conference9 Teams:3
Conference9 Wins:2
Conference9 Losses:1
Conference9 Ap Poll:1
Conference10:MAC
Conference10 Teams:2
Conference10 Wins:1
Conference10 Losses:1
Conference10 Ap Poll:1
Conference11:Sun Belt
Conference11 Teams:1
Conference11 Wins:1
Conference11 Losses:0
Conference11 Ap Poll:0
Conference12:Independents
Conference12 Teams:1
Conference12 Wins:0
Conference12 Losses:1
Conference12 Ap Poll:1

The 2002–03 NCAA football bowl games were a series of 28 post-season games (including the Bowl Championship Series) played in December 2002 and January 2003 for Division I-A football teams and their all-stars. The post-season began with the New Orleans Bowl on December 17, 2002, and concluded on February 1, 2003, with the season-ending Hula Bowl.

A new record of 28 team-competitive bowls, and two all-star games, were played, including the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl, Hawaii Bowl and San Francisco Bowl. To fill the 56 available team-competitive bowl slots, a total of three teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games - all three had a .500 (6–6) season.

Poll rankings

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,[2] while the BCS column represents the Bowl Championship Series rankings.[3]

AP BCS Team W–L Bowl
Holiday Bowl
Cotton Bowl Classic
Capital One Bowl
Gator Bowl
Outback Bowl
none
Alamo Bowl
Continental Tire Bowl
Gator Bowl
Humanitarian Bowl
Capital One Bowl
Peach Bowl
San Francisco Bowl
Outback Bowl
Liberty Bowl
Insight Bowl
Music City Bowl
denotes a BCS bowl game
ineligible for bowl play due to NCAA sanctions

Schedule

Non BCS Contests[4]
DateGameSiteTime
(US EST)		TVMatchup
(pre-game record)		AP
pre-game
rank		USA Today
pre-game
rank
12/17New Orleans BowlLouisiana Superdome
New Orleans, Louisiana		7:00 PMESPN2North Texas 24 (7–5),
Cincinnati 19 (7–6)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/18GMAC BowlLadd–Peebles Stadium
Mobile, Alabama		8:00 PMESPNMarshall 38 (10–2),
Louisville 15 (7–5)		NR
NR
  1. 24
    NR
12/23Tangerine BowlCitrus Bowl
Orlando, Florida		6:30 PMESPNTexas Tech 55 (8–5),
Clemson 15 (7–5)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/25Las Vegas BowlSam Boyd Stadium
Whitney, Nevada		4:30 PMESPNUCLA 27 (7–5),
New Mexico 13 (7–6)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/25Hawai'i BowlAloha Stadium
Honolulu, Hawaii		8:00 PMESPNTulane 36 (7–5),
Hawaii 28 (10–3)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/26Ford Field
Detroit, Michigan		5:00 PMESPNBoston College 51 (8–4),
Toledo 25 (9–4)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/26Insight BowlBank One Ballpark
Phoenix, Arizona		8:30 PMESPNPittsburgh 38 (8–4),
Oregon State 13 (8–4)
  1. 24
    NR
  1. 23
    NR
12/27Reliant Stadium
Houston, Texas		2:30 PMESPNOklahoma State 33 (7–4),
Southern Miss 23 (7–4)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/27Independence Stadium
Shreveport, Louisiana		5:30 PMESPNOle Miss 27 (6–6),
Nebraska 23 (7–6)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/27Holiday BowlQualcomm Stadium
San Diego, California		8:00 PMESPNKansas State 34 (10–2),
Arizona State 27 (8–5)
  1. 6
    NR
  1. 6
    NR
12/28Continental Tire BowlEricsson Stadium
Charlotte, North Carolina		12:00 PMESPNVirginia 48 (8–5),
West Virginia 22 (9–3)		NR
#15		NR
#13
12/28Alamo BowlAlamodome
San Antonio, Texas		8:00 PMESPNWisconsin 31 (7–6),
Colorado 28 (9–4) (OT)		NR
#14		NR
#14
12/30Music City BowlLP Field
Nashville, Tennessee		2:00 PMESPNMinnesota 29 (7–5),
Arkansas 14 (9–4)		NR
#25		NR
NR
12/30Seattle BowlQwest Field
Seattle, Washington		5:00 PMESPNWake Forest 38 (6–6),
Oregon 14 (7–5)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/31Humanitarian BowlBronco Stadium
Boise, Idaho		12:00 PMESPNBoise State 34 (11–1),
Iowa State 16 (7–6)
  1. 18
    NR
  1. 15
    NR
12/31Sun BowlSun Bowl Stadium
El Paso, Texas		2:00 PMCBSPurdue 34 (6–6),
Washington 24 (7–5)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/31Liberty BowlLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Memphis, Tennessee		2:30 PMESPNTCU 17 (9–2),
Colorado State 3 (10–3)		NR
#23		NR
#21
12/31Silicon Valley ClassicSpartan Stadium
San Jose, California		3:30 PMESPN2Fresno State 30 (8–5),
Georgia Tech 21 (7–5)		NR
NR		NR
NR
12/31Peach BowlGeorgia Dome
Atlanta, Georgia		7:30 PMESPNMaryland 30 (10–3),
Tennessee 3 (8–4)
  1. 20
    NR
  1. 18
    NR
12/31Pacific Bell Park
San Francisco, California		8:30 PMESPN2Virginia Tech 20 (9–4),
Air Force 13 (8–4)
  1. 21
    NR
  1. 19
    NR
1/1Outback BowlRaymond James Stadium
Tampa, Florida		11:00 AMESPNMichigan 38 (9–3),
Florida 30 (8–4)
  1. 12
    #22
  1. 11
    #20
1/1Cotton Bowl
Dallas, Texas		11:00 AMFOXTexas 35 (10–2),
LSU 20 (8–4)
  1. 9
    NR
  1. 9
    #25
1/1Gator BowlAlltel Stadium
Jacksonville, Florida		12:30 PMNBCNC State 28 (10–3),
Notre Dame 6 (10–2)
  1. 17
    #11
  1. 17
    #12
1/1Capital One BowlCitrus Bowl
Orlando, Florida		1:00 PMABCAuburn 13 (8–4),
Penn State 9 (9–3)
  1. 19
    #10
  1. 22
    #10
Bowl Championship Series
DateGameSiteTime
(US EST)		TVMatchupAP rankBCS rank
1/1Rose BowlRose Bowl
Pasadena, California		4:30 PMABCOklahoma 34 (11–2) (Big 12 Champion),
Washington State 14 (10–2) (Pac-10 co-Champ)
  1. 8
    #7
  1. 7
    #6
1/1Sugar BowlLouisiana Superdome
New Orleans, Louisiana		8:30 PMABCGeorgia 26 (12–1) (SEC Champion),
Florida State 13 (9–4) (ACC Champion)
  1. 4
    #16
  1. 3
    #14
1/2Orange BowlPro Player Stadium
Miami Gardens, Florida		8 PMABCUSC 38 (10–2) (Pac-10 co-Champion),
Iowa 17 (11–1) (Big Ten co-Champion)
  1. 5
    #3
  1. 4
    #5
1/3Fiesta Bowl (BCS National Championship Game)Sun Devil Stadium
Tempe, Arizona		8 PMABCOhio State 31 (13–0) (Big Ten co-Champion),
Miami 24 (12–0) (Big East Champion)
  1. 2
    #1
  1. 2
    #1

All-star games

Date Game Winning Team Losing Team Venue City
January 11, 2003 East Team 20 West Team 17 San Francisco, California
January 18, 2003 North Team 17 South Team 0 Mobile, Alabama
January 25, 2003 Team USA 20 Team Florida 17 Orlando, Florida
January 25, 2003 Midwest All-Stars 36 West All-Stars 31 St. George, Utah
February 1, 2003 South (Aina) 27 North (Kai) 24 Wailuku, Hawaii

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bowl Challenge Cup standings . 2003-01-05 . 2016-12-11.
  2. News: The AP Top 25 . . . 18 . December 9, 2002 . December 5, 2018 . newspapers.com.
  3. News: BCS Standings . . . 18 . December 9, 2002 . December 5, 2018 . newspapers.com.
  4. Web site: FBS (I-A) Schedule - 2002 (Bowls) . 2016-12-11.

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