The 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl was the 69th

edition Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

of the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, played at

Pro Player Stadium Hard Rock Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Miami Gardens, Florida. The stadium is the home field for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL) and the Miami Hurricanes, the University of Miami's NCAA Division I college ...

Miami Gardens, Florida Miami Gardens is a city in north-central Miami-Dade County, Florida. It is located north of Downtown Miami with city boundaries that stretch from I-95 and Northeast 2nd Avenue to its east to Northwest 47th and Northwest 57th Avenues to its w ...

, on Thursday, January 1. It matched the third-ranked

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

of the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

. Tied at halftime, favored USC pulled away in the second half to win, 38–17. Televised in the United States on ABC, the game was part of the 2002–03

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, includin ...

(BCS) of the

2002 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a double overtime national championship game. Ohio State and Miami both came into the Fiesta Bowl undefeated. The underdog Buckeyes defeated the defending-champion Hurricanes 31–24, ...

and represented the concluding game of the season for both teams.

Teams

Prior to the BCS, the New Year's Day pairings never would have occurred. The Rose Bowl normally features the champions of the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

(in 2002, the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

) and the Pac-10. However, because the Buckeyes had finished No. 2 in the BCS, they were set to play in the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pl ...

for the national championship against the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

. The Orange Bowl had the next pick after the Fiesta, and No. 3 (#5 BCS) Iowa was chosen. The Rose Bowl had the next BCS selection. The next, best available team to choose was No. 8 (#7 BCS)

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, who won the

Big 12 Championship Game The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 201 ...

, to play Pac-10 winner

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

in the Rose Bowl. When it came time for the Orange Bowl and

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

to make a second pick, both wanted USC. However, a BCS rule stated that if two bowls want the same team, the bowl with the higher payoff has the option.Rosenblatt, Richard �
BCS: Orange Bowl has a Rosy look
Associated Press, December 9, 2002 The Orange Bowl immediately extended an at-large bid to the #5 Trojans and paired them with at-large #3 Iowa in a Big Ten/Pac-10 "Rose Bowl" matchup in the Orange Bowl. Rose Bowl committee executive director Mitch Dorger was not pleased with the results. This left the Sugar Bowl with #14 BCS

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

, the winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Notre Dame at 10–2 and No. 9 in the BCS standings was invited to the

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

. Kansas State at No. 8 also was left out.

Iowa Hawkeyes

The Hawkeyes tied for the Big Ten conference championship with

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, and they did not meet this season. Iowa's only setback was a five-point loss to in-state rival

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

in mid-September.

USC Trojans

On October 5, in the 300th game for USC on live television, the Trojans lost 30–27 in overtime at

. The Cougars scored with 1:50 left to play to force overtime. The two tied for first place in the Pac-10, but the Cougars won the tie-breaker by virtue of the head-to-head victory. The final game of the conference season was moved to December 2, with WSU at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. Originally it was thought that the Bruins would be the team playing for the Rose Bowl. A 52–21 loss to USC put the Bruins out of contention and the Trojans and Cougars in.Whiteside, Kelly �
USC biggest question mark of teams jockeying for BCS
USA Today, December 2, 2002. The Cougars defeated UCLA 48–27 in Pasadena to advance to the Rose Bowl on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

; it was the final game for UCLA head coach

Bob Toledo Robert Anthony Toledo (born March 4, 1946) is an American former college football coach and player. Toledo served as the head coach at University of California, Riverside (1974–1975), the University of the Pacific (1979–1982), the Univers ...

, who was soon fired. This was only the second time a Pac-10 team appeared in the Orange Bowl; eighteen years earlier,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

won in January

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Game summary

Scoring

;First quarter: * Iowa –

C. J. Jones Clinton "C. J." Jones (born September 20, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He played college football at Iowa. Jones has also been a member of the Se ...

100-yard kickoff return ( Nate Kaeding kick) * USC –

Justin Fargas Justin Alejandro Fargas (born January 25, 1980) is a former American football running back. He played college football at Michigan and Southern California and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. College ...

4-yard run ( Ryan Killeen kick) * Iowa – Kaeding 35-yard field goal ;Second quarter: * USC – Killeen 35-yard field goal ;Third quarter: * USC – Williams 18-yard pass from Carson Palmer (Killeen kick) * USC – Fargas 50-yard run (Killeen kick) ;Fourth quarter: * USC – Sultan McCullough 5-yard run (Killeen kick) * USC – Sunny Byrd 6-yard run (Killeen kick) * Iowa – Maurice Brown 18-yard pass from

Brad Banks Brad Banks (born April 22, 1980) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Iowa where he was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. Early years Banks attended Glades Central High School where he was a First-team A ...

(Kaeding kick) :

Statistics

References

{{USC Trojans bowl game navbox

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

Orange Bowl Iowa Hawkeyes football bowl games USC Trojans football bowl games January 2003 sports events in the United States 2003 in sports in Florida