The 2003 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University

Auburn University

Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

 in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season

2003 NCAA Division I-A football season

The 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with an abundance of controversy, resulting in a split national championship. This was the first split title since the inception of the BCS, something the BCS intended to eliminate....

. Auburn began the season with high expectations, but stumbled out of the gate before finishing the season with a disappointing 8–5 record, including a 5–3 record in the SEC

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

, good for third place in the conference’s Western Division. The Tigers, coached by Tommy Tuberville

Tommy Tuberville

Thomas Hawley Tuberville is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Texas Tech University, a position he has held since the 2010 season...

, began the season ranked #6 in both the AP Poll

AP Poll

The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...

 and the Coaches' Poll, but opened with consecutive losses to Southern California

2003 USC Trojans football team

The 2003 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2003-2004 NCAA Division I-A college football season...

 and , dropping out of both polls.

The Tigers won their next four games, but remained unranked in either poll until the week after pulling a 10–3 upset win over in Fayetteville

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...

 on October 11, when they re-entered the AP Poll at #19 and the Coaches' Poll at #25. Following a victory over the following week, the Tigers climbed to #17 and #21 in the two polls, but after a 31–7 loss to eventual national champion LSU

2003 LSU Tigers football team

The 2003 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the college football season of 2003–2004. Coached by Nick Saban, the Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a bit of controversy, LSU won the BCS National Championship, the first...

 on October 25, the Tigers did not appear in either poll for the remainder of the season. However, several computer rating systems did include Auburn in their final rankings. The Tigers were ranked #17 by the BCS

Bowl Championship Series

The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...

 participating system of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, #18 by Entropy , and #19 consensus ranking by CollegeTop25.com.

After consecutive losses to Ole Miss

2003 Ole Miss Rebels football team

The 2003 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by David Cutcliffe, the Rebels played their home games at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium.-Season:...

, led by Eli Manning

Eli Manning

Eli Nelson Manning is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the younger brother of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning...

, and Georgia, the Tigers concluded a disappointing regular season by defeating arch rival Alabama

2003 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

The 2003 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. They began their season trying to improve from a 10–3 record from the 2002 season. This was the team's 71st year in the SEC...

, 28–23. In the postseason, Auburn knocked off Wisconsin

2003 Wisconsin Badgers football team

The 2003 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison during the 2003 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by Barry Alvarez, the Badgers completed the season with a 7–6 record, including a 4–4 mark in the Big Ten Conference, finishing in a tie for 7th in the...

 28–14 in the Music City Bowl

2003 Music City Bowl

The 2003 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl was played on December 31, 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee, and featured the Auburn Tigers and the Wisconsin Badgers. It was the sixth edition of the game.-Recap of game:...

, in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

.

The disappointment of the season led university president William Walker, athletic director David Housel

David E. Housel

David E. Housel is a former Director of Athletics for the Auburn Tigers Athletics Department. He was named Auburn's 13th Director of Athletics on On April 1, 1994, after working in almost every area of the Auburn Athletic Department for the previous 25 years...

, and other trustees to take a plane owned by trustee Bobby Lowder to meet in secret with Louisville Cardinals

Louisville Cardinals football

The Louisville Cardinals football team represents the University of Louisville in college football as a member of the Big East Conference. Howard Schnellenberger started the program's rise to relevancy after winning the Miami Hurricanes' first national championship...

 head coach Bobby Petrino

Bobby Petrino

Bobby Petrino is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Arkansas, a position he has held since the 2008 season...

 about replacing Tuberville. This occurred prior to the Alabama game, but newspapers in Montgomery

Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

 and Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 discovered the flight and broke the news. The visit caused controversy and Tuberville was ultimately retained.

Schedule

Date	Team	Location	PF	PA	Result	Television Coverage	Attendance
August 30, 2003	#8 USC 2003 USC Trojans football team The 2003 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2003-2004 NCAA Division I-A college football season...	Auburn, AL	0	23	L	CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...	86,063
September 6, 2003	@	Atlanta, GA	3	17	L	ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...	55,000
September 13, 2003	@	Nashville, TN	45	7	W	Jefferson Pilot Sports (JPS)	37,703
September 27, 2003		Auburn, AL	48	3	W		85,046
October 4, 2003	#7 Tennessee 2003 Tennessee Volunteers football team The 2003 Tennessee Volunteers football team represented the University of Tennessee in the 2003 college football season. The team was coached by Phillip Fulmer. The Vols played their home games in Neyland Stadium and competed in the Eastern Division of the SEC...	Auburn, AL	28	21	W	ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....	86,063
October 11, 2003	@ #7	Fayetteville, AR	10	3	W	JPS	74,026
October 18, 2003		Auburn, AL	45	13	W		86,063
October 25, 2003	@ #9 LSU 2003 LSU Tigers football team The 2003 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the college football season of 2003–2004. Coached by Nick Saban, the Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a bit of controversy, LSU won the BCS National Championship, the first...	Baton Rouge, LA	7	31	L	ESPN	92,085
November 1, 2003		Auburn, AL	73	7	W		81,061
November 8, 2003	#20 Ole Miss 2003 Ole Miss Rebels football team The 2003 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented the University of Mississippi during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by David Cutcliffe, the Rebels played their home games at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium.-Season:...	Auburn, AL	20	24	L	CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...	86,063
November 15, 2003	@ #7 Georgia	Athens, GA	7	26	L	CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...	92,058
November 22, 2003	Alabama 2003 Alabama Crimson Tide football team The 2003 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. They began their season trying to improve from a 10–3 record from the 2002 season. This was the team's 71st year in the SEC...	Auburn, AL	28	23	W	ESPN	86,063
December 31, 2003	Wisconsin 2003 Wisconsin Badgers football team The 2003 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison during the 2003 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by Barry Alvarez, the Badgers completed the season with a 7–6 record, including a 4–4 mark in the Big Ten Conference, finishing in a tie for 7th in the...	Nashville, TN (Music City Bowl 2003 Music City Bowl The 2003 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl was played on December 31, 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee, and featured the Auburn Tigers and the Wisconsin Badgers. It was the sixth edition of the game.-Recap of game:... )	28	14	W	ESPN	55,109
			342	212	8–5

Captains

Position	Player
LB	Karlos Dansby Karlos Dansby Karlos Montez Dansby is an American football linebacker for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft...
WR	Jeris McIntyre Jeris McIntyre Jeris McIntyre is an American football wide receiver who was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 6th round of the 2004 NFL Draft. McIntyre played college football for the Auburn Tigers. On July 19, 2004, McIntyre signed a three-year contract with Kansas City. After being relegated to the...
LB	Dontarrious Thomas Dontarrious Thomas Dontarrious Dewayne Thomas is an American football linebacker for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft...