2002 LSU Tigers football team

The 2002 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by Nick Saban, the Tigers played their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The defending SEC champion Tigers started out strong, but an injury to starting quarterback Matt Mauck hurt the team and they lost four of their final six games. The season is memorable because of the famous Bluegrass Miracle against the Kentucky Wildcats.

2002 LSU Tigers football
SEC Western Division co-champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, L 20–35 vs. Texas
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	Western Division
Record	8–5 (5–3 SEC)
Head coach	Nick Saban (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Jimbo Fisher (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Will Muschamp (1st season)
Home stadium	Tiger Stadium (Capacity: 91,600)
Seasons ← 2001 2003 →

2002 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Eastern Division
No. 3 Georgia x$		7	–	1					13	–	1
Florida		6	–	2					8	–	5
Tennessee		5	–	3					8	–	5
Kentucky		3	–	5					7	–	5
South Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	7
Vanderbilt		0	–	8					2	–	10
Western Division
Arkansas xy		5	–	3					9	–	5
No. 14 Auburn x		5	–	3					9	–	4
LSU x		5	–	3					8	–	5
Ole Miss		3	–	5					7	–	6
Mississippi State		0	–	8					3	–	9
No. 11 ^Alabama		6	–	2					10	–	3
Championship: Georgia 30, Arkansas 3
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant ^ – Alabama had the best division record, but did not participate in postseason play due to NCAA probation. Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	1:30 p.m.	at No. 16 Virginia Tech*	No. 14	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA	ABC	L 8–26	65,049
September 7	7:00 p.m.	The Citadel*	No. 23	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA		W 35–10	85,022
September 14	7:00 p.m.	Miami (OH)*	No. 22	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA		W 33–7	90,010
September 28	11:30 a.m.	Mississippi State	No. 20	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	JPS	W 31–13	90,793
October 5	7:00 p.m.	Louisiana–Lafayette*	No. 19	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA	PPV	W 48–0	91,357
October 12	6:45 p.m.	at No. 16 Florida	No. 18	Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	ESPN	W 36–7	85,252
October 19	6:45 p.m.	South Carolina	No. 12	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA	ESPN	W 38–14	91,340
October 26	11:30 a.m.	at Auburn	No. 10	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (Tiger Bowl)	JPS	L 7–31	85,366
November 9	11:30 a.m.	at Kentucky	No. 16	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY (Bluegrass Miracle)	JPS	W 33–30	66,262
November 16	8:00 p.m.	No. 10 Alabama	No. 12	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	ESPN	L 0–31	92,012
November 23	7:30 p.m.	Ole Miss	No. 21	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (Magnolia Bowl)	ESPN2	W 14–13	91,613
November 29	1:30 p.m.	at Arkansas	No. 17	War Memorial Stadium Little Rock, AR (Battle for the Golden Boot)	CBS	L 20–21	55,553
January 1, 2003	10:00 a.m.	vs. No. 9 Texas*		Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl Classic)	FOX	L 20–35	70,817
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Roster and Coaches

2002 LSU Tigers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 5 Skyler Green Fr WR 9 Devery Henderson Jr RB 10 Joseph Addai So QB 12 Marcus Randall So WR 14 Michael Clayton So QB 18 Matt Mauck So RB 22 LaBrandon Toefield Sr RB 31 Domanick Davis Sr TE 47 Eric Edwards Jr C 55 Ben Wilkerson So OL 64 Rudy Niswanger Fr G 73 Rob Sale  Sr WR 87 Blain Bech So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 8 Jack Hunt Jr LB 11 Bradie James Sr CB 13 Corey Webster So CB 21 Randall Gay Jr LB 27 Eric Alexander Jr DE 84 Marcus Spears So DT 93 Chad Lavalais Jr DT 95 Kyle Williams Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 40 John Corbello Sr P 80 Donnie Jones Jr	Head coach Nick Saban Coordinators/assistant coaches Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers-Kirk Doll Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks-Jimbo Fisher Running Backs/Special Teams Coordinator-Michael Haywood Offensive Line-George Yarno Wide Receivers-Stan Hixon Tight Ends-Derek Dooley Defensive Coordinator -Will Muschamp Defensive Line-Lance Thompson Defensive Backs- Charlie Harbison Defensive Graduate Assistant - Jay Rodgers Graduate Assistant - Adam Gase Graduate Assistant - Scott Cochran Strength and Conditioning assistant - Bo Davis Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

LSU Tigers in the 2003 National Football League Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Overall	NFL team
Domanick Davis	Running back	4	4	101	Houston Texans
Bradie James	Linebacker	4	6	103	Dallas Cowboys
LaBrandon Toefield	Running back	4	35	132	Jacksonville Jaguars
Norman Lejeune	Defensive back	7	30	244	Philadelphia Eagles

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/2003.htm Archived 2009-05-27 at the Wayback Machine

References