The 2002 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I-AA level, began in August 2002, and concluded with the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 20, 2002, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers won their first I-AA championship, defeating the McNeese State Cowboys by a final score of 34−14.

Conference changes and new programs Prior to the 2002 season, the Big South Conference began to sponsor football at the Division I-AA level.

School 2001 Conference 2002 Conference Cal State Northridge I-AA Independent Dropped Program Charleston Southern I-AA Independent Big South Elon I-AA Independent Big South FIU New Program I-AA Independent Gardner-Webb D-II Independent Big South Liberty I-AA Independent Big South St. John's (NY) Northeast MAAC

Conference standings

Conference champions

Conference ChampionsAtlantic 10 Conference – Maine and Northeastern Big Sky Conference – Idaho State, Montana, and Montana State Big South Conference – Gardner-Webb Gateway Football Conference – Western Illinois and Western Kentucky Ivy League – Penn Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference – Duquesne Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Bethune-Cookman Northeast Conference – Albany (NY) Ohio Valley Conference – Eastern Illinois and Murray State Patriot League – Colgate and Fordham Pioneer Football League – Dayton Southern Conference – Georgia Southern Southland Football League – McNeese State Southwestern Athletic Conference – Grambling State

Postseason NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket The top four teams in the tournament were seeded; seeded teams were assured of hosting games in the first two rounds.

* Denotes host institution

Awards and honors Source:

Walter Payton Award voting The Walter Payton Award is given to the year's most outstanding player

Player School Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total Tony Romo Eastern Illinois QB 24 15 18 12 10 268 Brett Gordon Villanova QB 18 18 17 10 12 245 Bruce Eugene Grambling State QB 21 16 7 17 10 234 John Edwards Montana QB 12 11 13 13 8 177 Willie Ponder Southeast Missouri State WR 1 7 7 14 12 94 Chas Gessner Brown WR 5 6 6 7 9 90 Carl Morris Harvard WR 6 4 5 7 6.5 81.5 Chaz Williams Georgia Southern RB 3 8 6 5 5 80 Allen Suber Bethune–Cookman QB 7 4 4 2 4 71 Kirwin Watson Fordham RB 3 5 6 2 10 67 P. J. Mays Youngstown State RB 2 5 2 5 6 52 Billy Napier Furman QB 2 4 5 2 2 47 Stephan Lewis New Hampshire RB 1 4 4 4 4 45 David Corley Jr. Furman QB 1 1 4 3 5 32 Ryan Johnson Montana State RB 2 0 3 1 2 23 Ryan Fuqua Portland State RB 0 1 2 3 2.5 18.5 Jay Bailey Austin Peay RB 1 0 0 0 0 5 Doug Baughman Idaho State QB 0 0 0 1 0 2

References