2003 California Golden Bears football team

2003 California Golden Bears football
Insight Bowl champion
Insight Bowl, W 52–49 vs. Virginia Tech
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	8–6 (5–3 Pac-10)
Head coach	Jeff Tedford (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	George Cortez (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Bob Gregory (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Lorenzo Alexander Adimchinobe Echemandu Donnie McCleskey Aaron Rodgers
Home stadium	California Memorial Stadium
Seasons ←  2002 2004  →

2003 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	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 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 in Pac-10, tied for third) and outscored their opponents 457 to 341. ^{[1] [2]}

The Bears were led on the field by sophomore quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a junior college transfer who became the starter on September 20 against Illinois. ^[3] In his second start the following week, Rodgers led Cal to a 21–7 halftime lead over third-ranked USC before being replaced due to injury in the second half by Reggie Robertson. ^[4] The Bears won in triple overtime, 34–31. ^{[5] [6]} In late December, Cal defeated Virginia Tech 52–49 in the Insight Bowl at Phoenix; Rodgers passed for 394 yards and was the game's offensive MVP. ^[7]

Rodgers tied Cal's season record with five 300-yard games and set a Cal record for the lowest percentage of passes intercepted at 1.43%. ^[8] The Golden Bears' statistical leaders included Rodgers with 2,903 passing yards, Adimchinobe Echemandu with 1,195 rushing yards, and Geoff McArthur with 1,504 receiving yards. ^[9]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
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	[10]
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 Plus	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 (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

Game summaries

Vs. Kansas State

California vs. #7 Kansas State

Team	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

USC

#3 USC at California

Team	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 Rodgers was the starter as Cal's quarterback, but due to injury he was replaced in the second half by Reggie Robertson. ^{[4] [5]}

Washington

Team	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

^[11]

Stanford

California at Stanford

Team	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 Pos. # Name Class QB 8 Aaron Rodgers So RB 18 Adimchinobe Echemandu Sr RB 30 J. J. Arrington Jr OL 61 Ryan O'Callaghan So 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 27, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
4. "Cal-USC Postgame Quotes". Cal Athletics. September 27, 2003. Archived from the original on June 9, 2012.
5. Beacham, Greg (September 28, 2003). "Cal bears down in OT, snaps USC streak". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. p. D1.
6. "Cal fans storm field after win". ESPN. September 27, 2003. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
7. Baum, Bob (December 27, 2003). "Cal kicker wins another big one". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. p. D1.
8. "Cal Records". University of California. Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
9. "2003 California Golden Bears Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
10. "California soars in 34–2 rout". The Los Angeles Times. August 31, 2003. Retrieved September 10, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
11. "California 54, Washington 7". ESPN. November 15, 2003. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.