2003 Florida Gators football team

The 2003 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 2003 college football season. The Gators competed in Division I-A of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and played their home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. They were led by second-year coach Ron Zook, who coached the Gators to a first-place tie in the SEC East, an Outback Bowl berth, and an overall win–loss record of 8–5 (.615). Consensus All-American Keiwan Ratliff set the school single-season interception mark in 2003 with 9.

2003 Florida Gators football
SEC Eastern Division co-champion
Outback Bowl, L 17–37 vs. Iowa
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 25
AP	No. 24
Record	8–5 (6–2 SEC)
Head coach	Ron Zook (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Ed Zaunbrecher (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Charlie Strong (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Captain	Daryl Dixon Keiwan Ratliff Max Starks Ben Troupe
Home stadium	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Capacity: 88,548)

2003 Southeastern Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 7 Georgia xy		6	–	2					11	–	3
No. 15 Tennessee x		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 24 Florida x		6	–	2					8	–	5
South Carolina		2	–	6					5	–	7
Vanderbilt		1	–	7					2	–	10
Kentucky		1	–	7					4	–	8
Western Division
No. 2 LSU xy$#		7	–	1					13	–	1
No. 13 Ole Miss x		7	–	1					10	–	3
Auburn		5	–	3					8	–	5
Arkansas		4	–	4					9	–	4
Alabama		2	–	6					4	–	9
Mississippi State		1	–	7					2	–	10
Championship: LSU 34, Georgia 13
# – BCS National Champion $ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	San Jose State*		Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 65–3	90,011
September 6	at No. 3 Miami (FL)*	No. 21	Orange Bowl Stadium Miami, FL (rivalry)	ABC	L 33–38	79,932
September 13	Florida A&M*	No. 19	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 63–3	90,087
September 20	No. 12 Tennessee	No. 17	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 10–24	90,332
September 27	at Kentucky	No. 25	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY (rivalry)	JPS	W 24–21	70,579
October 4	Ole Miss	No. 24	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	JPS	L 17–20	90,101
October 11	at No. 6 LSU		Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	CBS	W 19–7	92,077
October 18	at No. 11 Arkansas		Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AR	CBS	W 33–28	73,934
November 1	vs. No. 4 Georgia	No. 23	Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	W 16–13	84,411
November 8	Vanderbilt	No. 17	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL	PPV	W 35–17	90,122
November 15	at South Carolina	No. 15	Williams-Brice Stadium Columbia, SC	JPS	W 24–22	81,523
November 29	No. 9 Florida State*	No. 11	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry, College GameDay)	CBS	L 34–38	90,407
January 1, 2004	vs. No. 13 Iowa*	No. 17	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL (Outback Bowl)	ESPN	L 17–37	65,372
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Sources: 2012 Florida Football Media Guide, and GatorZone.com.

Personnel

2003 Florida Gators football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 81 Dallas Baker  Fr OT 67 Steven Bell Sr WR 16 Vernell Brown So OL 66 Todd Bunce Fr OT 72 Lance Butler So TE 85 Hunter Cain So WR 5 Andre Caldwell Fr TE 83 Darrell Carpenter Jr OL 71 Ryan Carter Fr RB 33 Ran Carthon Sr RB 20 Joe Cohen Fr OT 78 Jonathan Colon Jr WR 41 Casey Conner Sr WR 6 Jemalle Cornelius Fr C 68 Mike Degory So QB 17 Gavin Dickey Fr RB 4 Ciatrick Fason So TE 82 Otto Graham So OL 65 Billy Griffin Jr OL 64 Anthony Guerrero Jr RB 48 Tyler Guettler Fr G 74 Randy Hand So FB 45 Eddie Hatch So WR 37 Tim Higgins Fr WR 8 Chad Jackson Fr RB 46 Pat Kelley Fr TE 88 David Kenner Jr WR 2 Kelvin Kight Sr OL 60 Zach King Fr QB 9 Matt Kynes Fr FB 42 Billy Latsko Fr RB 27 DaJuan Lawrence Fr QB 12 Chris Leak Fr WR 22 Reggie Lewis Fr QB 10 Ingle Martin  So G 63 Jonathan Marvin So OL 52 Slyvester McGrew Sr OL 73 Carlton Medder Fr QB 14 Justin Midgett Fr WR 28 Kyle Morgan So WR 87 Jimmy Newmeyer So OL 70 Chris Parker Fr WR 23 Carlos Perez Sr OL 79 Steve Rissler Fr WR 11 O.J. Small Jr G 75 Shannon Snell Sr OT 77 Max Starks Sr OL 62 James Stone Fr RB 25 Skyler Thornton Fr WR 3 Kenneth Tookes Fr TE 84 Ben Troupe Sr WR 80 Reggie Vickers Jr RB 24 Jimtavis Walker Fr OT 76 Tavares Washington Jr RB 21 DeShawn Wynn  Fr WR 15 Ryan Williams So	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 32 Zephrin Augustine Jr S 7 Cory Bailey Jr CB 36 Nick Brooks Fr DB 45 Adam Brown Fr LB 28 Richard Brown Fr LB 52 Alvin Butler Fr CB 24 Deshawn Carter So LB 92 Taurean Charles Fr LB 49 Shane Cimcock So LB 55 Channing Crowder Fr LB 13 Brian Crum Fr S 34 Daryl Dixon Sr DT 62 Ronald Dowdy Jr DB 39 William Foxe Fr LB 30 Earl Everett Fr LB 43 Matt Farrior Sr LB 40 Reid Fleming Sr LB 54 Doug Guziec Fr DE 93 Steven Harris Fr DE 27 Travis Harris Jr S 46 Jarvis Herring So DT 90 Michael Hill Fr DB 35 Reynaldo Hill Jr DT 56 Eric Holcombe Jr CB 49 Terrence Holmes Fr LB 29 Dwight Jackson Sr CB 19 Matt Jackson Sr CB 31 Johnny Lamar Sr DE 86 Darrell Lee Sr LB 99 Howard Lingard Fr CB 26 Jermaine McCollum Fr CB 18 Tremaine McCollum Fr DE 57 Bobby McCray Sr LB 47 Todd McCullough Jr DT 95 Ray McDonald Fr DT 98 Clint McMillan Fr DT 61 Mo Mitchell Jr DE 97 Tranelle Morant Fr DE 94 Jarvis Moss Fr DB 37 Matt Nedeff Jr DT 96 Dwayne Norris Jr S 22 Tre Orr Jr DT 58 Kenny Parker Jr DE 85 MacKenzie Pierre Fr CB 1 Keiwan Ratliff Sr DE 59 Julian Riley Fr LB 51 Bryan Royal So DE 89 Jeremy Sandow Sr LB 53 Alik Scott So S 9 Guss Scott Sr DB 28 Jermaine Thomas Fr DT 44 Marcus Thornton Fr DB 15 Demetrice Webb Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 97 Nick Fleming So LS 69 Casey Griffith Sr PK 39 Chris Hetland Fr P 18 Jason Hunter Jr PK 14 Matt Leach Jr LS 73 Jonathan Lively Jr P 92 Sean Morton Sr PK 12 Eric Nappy Fr LS 50 Jay Patella Fr PK 38 Matt Piotrowicz Jr PK 93 Brendt Talcott Sr PK 95 Jeff Whitaker Jr P 10 Eric Wilbur Fr	Head coach Ron Zook Coordinators/assistant coaches Jerry Anderson Dwayne Dixon Larry Fedora Mike Locksley Bill Miller Charlie Strong Joe Wickline Mike Woodford Ed Zaunbrecher Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: 27 January 2018

Season summary

San Jose State

1 2 3 4 Total San Jose St 3 0 0 0 3 • Florida 3 27 14 21 65 Date: August 30 Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Florida Game start: 6:00 p.m. EST Elapsed time: 3:25 Game attendance: 90,011 Game weather: Warm and humid • 82 °F (28 °C) • Wind 5 E Referee: Jay Vines

Scoring summary Q1 SJSU Carr 47 yard field goal SJSU 3–0 Q1 FLA Leach 20 yard field goal Tie 3–3 Q2 FLA Leach 37 yard field goal FLA 6–3 Q2 FLA Carthon 2 yard run (Leach kick) FLA 13–3 Q2 FLA Kight 21 yard pass from Martin (Leach kick) FLA 20–3 Q2 FLA Scott 38 yard interception return (Leach kick) FLA 27–3 Q2 FLA Leach 30 yard field goal FLA 30–3 Q3 FLA Carthon 2 yard run (Leach kick) FLA 37–3 Q3 FLA Kight 16 yard pass from Leak (Leach kick) FLA 44–3 Q4 FLA Lewis 22 yard fumble return (Leach kick) FLA 51–3 Q4 FLA Jackson 29 yard pass from Dickey (Leach kick) FLA 58–3 Q4 FLA Orr 72 yard interception return (Leach kick) FLA 65–3

Miami (FL)

See also: Florida–Miami football rivalry

1 2 3 4 Total Florida 10 9 14 0 33 • Miami (FL) 10 0 15 13 38 Date: September 6 Location: Orange Bowl Game start: 8:00 p.m. EST Elapsed time: 3:42 Game attendance: 79,932 Game weather: Cloudy 67% Hum • 87 °F (31 °C) • Wind 14 SW

Florida A&M

1 2 3 4 Total Florida A&M 3 0 0 0 3 • Florida 14 21 7 21 63 Date: September 13 Location: Ben Hill Griffith Stadium Game start: 6:00 p.m. EST

Tennessee

See also: Florida–Tennessee football rivalry

1 2 3 4 Total • Tennessee 0 7 10 7 24 Florida 3 0 0 7 10 Date: September 20 Location: Ben Hill Griffith Stadium Game start: 12:00 p.m. EST

Kentucky

1 2 3 4 Total • Florida 0 3 0 21 24 Kentucky 7 7 7 0 21 Date: September 27 Location: Commonwealth Stadium Game start: 12:30 p.m. EST

Ole Miss

1 2 3 4 Total • Ole Miss 3 7 3 7 20 Florida 7 10 0 0 17 Date: October 4 Location: Ben Hill Griffith Stadium Game start: 12:30 p.m. EST

LSU

See also: Florida–LSU football rivalry

1 2 3 4 Total • Florida 10 3 6 0 19 LSU 7 0 0 0 7 Date: October 11 Location: Tiger Stadium

Arkansas

1 2 3 4 Total • Florida 0 13 13 7 33 Arkansas 7 0 0 21 28 Date: October 18 Location: Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium

Georgia

See also: Florida–Georgia football rivalry

1 2 3 4 Total Georgia 0 3 0 10 13 • Florida 0 3 7 6 16 Date: November 1 Location: Alltel Stadium

Vanderbilt

1 2 3 4 Total Vanderbilt 7 3 0 7 17 • Florida 14 7 7 7 35 Date: November 8 Location: Ben Hill Griffith Stadium

South Carolina

1 2 3 4 Total • Florida 0 7 17 0 24 South Carolina 9 7 6 0 22 Date: November 15 Location: Williams–Brice Stadium

Florida State

See also: 2003 Florida State Seminoles football team and Florida–Florida State football rivalry

Florida State Seminoles (9–2) at Florida Gators (8–3)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida State	7	10	7	14	38
Florida	3	3	18	10	34

at Ben Hill Griffith Stadium • Gainesville, Florida

• Date: November 29
• Game time: 3:20 p.m. EST
• Game weather: Fair • 54 °F (12 °C) • Wind 10 NW
• Game attendance: 90,407
• Referee: Jack Childress
• TV: CBS
• Box Score

Game information
Florida St Rix 14/19, 256 Yds, 3 TD Washington 15 Rush, 65 Yds Robinson 5 Rec, 102 Yds, TD Florida Leak 22/36, 273 Yds, 2 TD Carthon 13 Rush, 62 Yds Troupe 4 Rec, 121 Yds, 2 TD

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP FSU FLA 1 6:05 11 46 4:27 Florida 47-yard field goal by Leach 0 3 1 1:46 8 78 4:19 Florida St Robinson 35-yard touchdown reception from Rix, Beitia kick good 7 3 2 7:31 11 57 6:29 Florida St 28-yard field goal by Beitia 10 3 2 5:31 5 21 2:00 Florida 47-yard field goal by Leach 10 6 2 5:02 2 23 0:29 Florida St Henshaw 20-yard touchdown reception from Rix, Beitia kick good 17 6 3 13:25 5 78 1:35 Florida Troupe 25-yard touchdown reception from Leak, 2-point run good 17 14 3 7:44 9 41 3:30 Florida 42-yard field goal by Leach 17 17 3 6:10 Florida Fumble recovery returned 77 yards for touchdown by Ratliff, Leach kick good 17 24 3 2:49 Florida St Fumble recovery returned 25 yards for touchdown by Watkins, Beitia kick good 24 24 4 8:01 11 81 3:24 Florida 28-yard field goal by Leach 24 27 4 5:01 8 80 3:00 Florida St Rix 1-yard touchdown run, Beitia kick good 31 27 4 2:50 9 60 2:11 Florida Troupe 25-yard touchdown reception from Leak, Leach kick good 31 34 4 0:55 5 72 1:55 Florida St Sam 52-yard touchdown reception from Rix, Beitia kick good 38 34 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 38 34

Outback Bowl

See also: 2003 Iowa Hawkeyes football team and Outback Bowl

1 2 3 4 Total • Iowa 7 13 14 3 37 Florida 7 0 3 7 17 Date: January 1 Location: Raymond James Stadium

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2004 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL club
2	40	Ben Troupe	TE	Tennessee Titans
2	49	Keiwan Ratliff	CB	Cincinnati Bengals
3	75	Max Starks	OT	Pittsburgh Steelers
3	95	Guss Scott	SS	New England Patriots
7	249	Bobby McCray	DE	Jacksonville Jaguars

Bibliography

• 2009 Southeastern Conference Football Media Guide, Florida Year-by-Year Records, Southeastern Conference, Birmingham, Alabama, p. 60 (2009).
• 2012 Florida Football Media Guide, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 107–116 (2012).
• Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.