2003 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 2003 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. They participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. Their home games were played at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. The team's head coach was Ron Turner, who was in his seventh season with the Illini. Illinois had a record of 1–11.

2003 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	1–11 (0–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Ron Turner (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Ron Turner (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Mike Cassity (3rd season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 2002 2004 →

2003 Big Ten Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Michigan $		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 4 Ohio State %		6	–	2					11	–	2
No. 18 Purdue		6	–	2					9	–	4
No. 8 Iowa		5	–	3					10	–	3
No. 20 Minnesota		5	–	3					10	–	3
Michigan State		5	–	3					8	–	5
Wisconsin		4	–	4					7	–	6
Northwestern		4	–	4					6	–	7
Penn State		1	–	7					3	–	9
Indiana		1	–	7					2	–	10
Illinois		0	–	8					1	–	11
% – BCS at-large representative $ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 30	11:00 am	vs. Missouri*	Edward Jones Dome St. Louis, MO	ABC	L 15–22	63,576
September 6	11:00 am	Illinois State*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN+	W 49–22	56,304	^[1]
September 13	7:00 pm	at UCLA*	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	ABC	L 3–6	51,118
September 20	11:00 am	California*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN+	L 24–31	58,363
September 27	5:00 pm	Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN2	L 20–38	58,495
October 4	11:00 am	at No. 23 Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Purdue Cannon)	ESPN	L 10–43	63,139
October 11	11:00 am	No. 21 Michigan State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN	L 14–49	47,509
October 18	11:00 am	at No. 17 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI (rivalry)	ESPN+	L 14–56	110,231
October 25	11:00 am	No. 24 Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPN+	L 10–36	46,407
November 1	11:00 am	at No. 13 Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPN+	L 10–41	70,397
November 8	11:00 am	at Indiana	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	ESPN+	L 14–17	24,102
November 22	11:00 am	Northwestern	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Sweet Sioux Tomahawk)	ESPN+	L 21–38	38,688
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[2]

Roster

2003 Illinois Fighting Illini football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 7 Jon Beutjer Jr OL 73 Sean Bubin Sr FB 24 Carey Davis Sr FB 34 Jason Davis So WR 6 Kelvin Hayden Jr WR 84 Kendrick Jones So RB 23 Marcus Mason Fr QB 16 Chris Pazan Fr C 75 Duke Preston Jr RB 30 Pierre Thomas Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class S 18 Alan Ball Fr DL 59 Kam Buckner Fr LB 48 Jeremy Leman Fr S 42 Kevin Mitchell Fr CB 5 Christian Morton Sr DE 66 Brian Schaefering Jr LB 44 Matt Sinclair Jr DE 98 Derrick Strong Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 37 Steve Weatherford So	Head coach Ron Turner Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible   Injured   Redshirt Roster

References

1. Batterson, Steve (September 7, 2003). "First win is all that matters to Illini". Quad-City Times. p. D1. Retrieved November 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
2. . University of Illinois at Champaign–Urbana Department of Athletics. Archived from the original on February 10, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2012.