2003 Georgia Bulldogs football team

2003 Georgia Bulldogs football
2003 Georgia Bulldogs football
SEC Eastern Division co-champion; Capital One Bowl champion
SEC Championship Game, L 13–34 vs. LSU
Capital One Bowl, W 34–27 OT vs. Purdue
Conference	Southeastern Conference
	Eastern Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 7
Record	11–3 (6–2 SEC)
Head coach	Mark Richt (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Neil Callaway (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Brian VanGorder (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Sanford Stadium

2003 Southeastern Conference football standings

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

The 2003 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the University of Georgia as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by third-year head coach Mark Richt, the Bulldogs compiled an overall record of 11–3 with a mark of 6–2 in conference play, sharing the SEC's Eastern Division title with Florida and Tennessee. Georgia advanced to the SEC Championship Game, where the Bulldogs lost to the eventual Bowl Championship Series (BCS) champion, LSU. The Bulldogs finished the season with an overtime win in the Capital One Bowl over Purdue. The team played home games at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 30	12:00 p.m.	at Clemson*	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (rivalry)	ABC	W 30–0	82,034
September 6	1:00 p.m.	Middle Tennessee*	No. 8	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA	PPV	W 29–10	92,058
September 13	3:30 p.m.	No. 25 South Carolina	No. 8	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (rivalry)	CBS	W 31–7	92,058
September 20	3:30 p.m.	at No. 11 LSU	No. 7	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (College GameDay)	CBS	L 10–17	92,251
October 4	3:30 p.m.	Alabama	No. 12	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (rivalry)	CBS	W 37–23	92,058
October 11	7:45 p.m.	at No. 13 Tennessee	No. 8	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, TN (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 41–14	107,517
October 18	2:00 p.m.	at Vanderbilt	No. 5	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN (rivalry)	PPV	W 27–8	27,823
October 25	1:00 p.m.	UAB*	No. 5	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA		W 16–13	92,058	^[1]
November 1	3:30 p.m.	vs. No. 23 Florida	No. 4	Alltel Stadium Jacksonville, FL (rivalry)	CBS	L 13–16	84,411
November 15	3:30 p.m.	Auburn	No. 6	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA (Deep South's Oldest Rivalry)	CBS	W 26–7	92,058
November 22	12:30 p.m.	Kentucky	No. 6	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA	JPS	W 30–10	92,058
November 29	1:00 p.m.	at Georgia Tech*	No. 5	Bobby Dodd Stadium Atlanta, GA (Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate)	ABC	W 34–17	55,000
December 6	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 3 LSU	No. 5	Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA (SEC Championship Game, College GameDay)	CBS	L 13–34	74,913
January 1, 2004	1:00 p.m.	vs. No. 12 Purdue*	No. 11	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Capital One Bowl)	ABC	W 34–27 ^OT	64,565
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[2]^[3]^[4]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	11	8	8	7	12	11	8	4	4	4	9	7	6	5	5	11	7
Coaches	9	8	8	7	12	12	10	5	5	4	9	6	6	5	5	11	6
BCS	Not released								4	5	10	9	6	7	7	12	Not released

Game summaries

Clemson

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Georgia	10	3	3	14	30
Clemson	0	0	0	0	0

Date: August 30
Location: Memorial Stadium, Clemson, South Carolina
Game start: 12:00 p.m. EST

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Roster

2003 Georgia Bulldogs football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`14`	David Greene	Jr
OT	`74`	Max Jean-Gilles	So
QB	`3`	D. J. Shockley	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`22`	Decory Bryant	Jr
LB	`10`	Thomas Davis	So
CB	`23`	Tim Jennings	So
DB	`6`	Sean Jones	Sr
DE	`47`	David Pollack	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

Head coach

Mark Richt

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

References

^ "Just hangin' on, Dogs dodge a homecoming comeuppance". The Atlanta Constitution. October 26, 2003. Retrieved December 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Georgia Bulldogs Schedule 2003". ESPN. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
^ "2003 Georgia Bulldogs Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
^ "2003 Football Schedule". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
^ ESPN

[1] "Just hangin' on, Dogs dodge a homecoming comeuppance". The Atlanta Constitution. October 26, 2003. Retrieved December 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

[2] "Georgia Bulldogs Schedule 2003". ESPN. Retrieved September 15, 2025.

[3] "2003 Georgia Bulldogs Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved September 15, 2025.

[4] "2003 Football Schedule". University of Georgia Athletics. Retrieved September 15, 2025.

[5] ESPN

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Q1	9:21	UGA	Fred Gibson 56 yard pass from David Greene (Billy Bennett kick)	UGA 7–0

Q1	1:50	UGA	Billy Bennett 34 yard field goal	UGA 10–0

Q2	11:09	UGA	Billy Bennett 30 yard field goal	UGA 13–0

Q3	4:32	UGA	Billy Bennett 42 yard field goal	UGA 16–0

Q4	5:53	UGA	David Greene 3 yard run (Billy Bennett kick)	UGA 23–0

Q4	2:42	UGA	D.J. Shockley 29 yard run (Billy Bennett kick)	UGA 30–0

Georgia Bulldogs football
Venues	Herty Field (1892–1910) Sanford Field (1911–1928) Sanford Stadium (1929–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Auburn: Deep South's Oldest Rivalry Clemson Florida Georgia Tech: Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate South Carolina Tennessee Vanderbilt
Culture & lore	History Hairy Dawg Uga "Glory, Glory" Georgia Redcoat Marching Band First forward pass 1927 Yale game Prayer at Jordan–Hare 2024 Georgia Tech game
People	Head coaches Steadman V. Sanford Georgia Joker Larry Munson Morgan Blake NFL draftees Starting quarterbacks Statistical leaders
Seasons	1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917–1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
National championship seasons in bold