2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

The 2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football team represented California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo as an independent during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Led by third-year head coach Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly compiled a record of 7–4.^[1] The team outscored its opponents 316 to 241 for the season. The Mustangs played home games at Mustang Stadium in San Luis Obispo, California.

2003 Cal Poly Mustangs football
Conference	Independent
Record	7–4
Head coach	Rich Ellerson (3rd season)
Home stadium	Mustang Stadium
Seasons ← 2002 2004 →

2003 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Florida Atlantic ^			–						11	–	3
Cal Poly			–						7	–	4
Southeastern Louisiana			–						5	–	7
Southern Utah			–						4	–	7
Saint Mary's			–						1	–	11
FIU			–						0	–	10
Savannah State			–						0	–	12
^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Record adjusted for 2 vacated wins by FIU Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2003 was the last season in which Cal Poly competed independent. In 2004, the Mustangs became a charter member of the Great West Football Conference.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	at UTEP		Sun Bowl El Paso, TX	W 34–13	26,224
September 13	Sacramento State	No. 25	Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	W 31–17	7,506	[2]
September 20	No. 11 Montana State	No. 21	Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	W 24–21	8,458	[3]
September 27	at No. 25 Northern Arizona	No. 14	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	L 7–24	9,011	[4]
October 4	at No. 8 Montana	No. 20	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT	L 14–17	23,687	[5]
October 11	at Akron	No. 24	Rubber Bowl Akron, OH	L 14–45	8,319
October 18	Saint Mary's		Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	W 54–10
November 1	Southern Utah		Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	W 33–21
November 8	at UC Davis		Toomey Field Davis, CA (rivalry)	W 18–14	7,477
November 15	Idaho State	No. 20	Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	L 31–38		[6]
November 22	Humboldt State		Mustang Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	W 56–21
Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game

^[7][8]

Team players in the NFL

No Cal Poly Mustang players were selected in the 2004 NFL draft.^[9][10][11] The following finished their college career in 2003, were not drafted, but played in the NFL.

Player	Position	First NFL team
David Richardson	Defensive back	2004 Jacksonville Jaguars