The regular season ended with three one-loss teams in BCS contention:
Oklahoma,
LSU and USC. USC ended the regular season ranked #1 and LSU #2 in both the
AP Poll and the
Coaches' Poll. USC lost one triple-overtime game at
California, which finished 8–6; LSU had a 12-point home loss against a Florida team that went 8–5; Oklahoma, which had been ranked #1 for most of the season, fell to #3 after suffering a 35–7 defeat in the
2003 Big 12 Championship Game to
Kansas State, which finished 11–4. Controversy erupted when the BCS computers selected Oklahoma–LSU as the BCS title game. During the
bowl games, USC had a convincing 28–14 win over #4
Michigan in the
Rose Bowl while LSU beat Oklahoma 21–14 in the
Sugar Bowl (designated the
BCS title game). USC remained #1 in the final AP Poll with 48 of the 65 votes, and LSU was ranked, by contractual obligation, #1 in the final Coaches' Poll, though three coaches did not follow instructions and voted USC #1 in that poll as well.[1]
Recruiting
With the late arrival of highly touted
quarterbackJohn David Booty, who left high school a year early to attend USC, the Trojans' 2003 recruiting class was considered by some to be the best in the country.[2][3]
Its legacy included many
NFL Draft picks over several years, including four first-round picks.[4]
USC opened the season visiting
Auburn University: the Tigers were also ranked in the top 10 and had been named a pre-season favorite to be the national champion by at least one major news organization. In his first start, quarterback
Matt Leinart led the Trojans on a dominating 23–0 performance.[7]