The 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-AA level, began in August 2003, and concluded with the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 19, 2003, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens won their first I-AA championship, defeating the Colgate Raiders by a final score of 40−0.

Conference changes and new programs School 2002 Conference 2003 Conference Canisius MAAC Dropped Program Coastal Carolina New Program Big South Elon Big South Southern Fairfield MAAC Dropped Program Jacksonville State Southland Ohio Valley Morris Brown I-AA Independent Dropped Program St. John's (NY) MAAC Dropped Program Samford I-AA Independent Ohio Valley Southeastern Louisiana Revived Program I-AA Independent VMI Southern Big South

Conference standings

Conference champions

Conference ChampionsAtlantic 10 Conference – Delaware and UMass Big Sky Conference – Montana, Montana State, and Northern Arizona Big South Conference – Gardner-Webb Gateway Football Conference – Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois Ivy League – Penn Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference – Duquesne Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference – North Carolina A&T Northeast Conference – Albany (NY) and Monmouth Ohio Valley Conference – Jacksonville State Patriot League – Colgate Pioneer Football League – Valparaiso Southern Conference – Wofford Southland Conference – McNeese State Southwestern Athletic Conference – Southern

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.

* By team name denotes host institution

* By score denotes overtime period(s)

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 Jamaal Branch Colgate RB 35 23 10 6 1 310 Bruce Eugene Grambling State QB 17 22 15 8 3 237 Andy Hall Delaware QB 17 18 13 9 5 219 Vick King McNeese State RB 4 8 6 3 6 82 Charles Anthony Tennessee State RB 5 4 5 5 8 74 Russ Michna Western Illinois QB 4 2 5 6 6 61 Efrem Hill Samford WR 3 1 7 7 4 58 Jason Murrietta Northern Arizona QB 0 0 6 15 10 58 Quincy Richard Southern RB 0 5 5 5 10 55 Rob Giancola Valparaiso QB 1 3 4 7 5 48 Allen Suber Bethune–Cookman QB 4 1 4 4 4 48 Alvin Cowan Yale QB 1 1 2 7 12 41 Kirwin Watson Fordham RB 0 0 3 6 9 30 Terrance Freeney Northern Iowa RB 1 1 3 2 4 26 Jermaine Austin Georgia Southern RB 0 2 1 2 2 17 Marcus Williams Maine RB 0 1 2 0 3 13 B.J. Sams McNeese State RB 0 0 3 0 0 3

References