CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 2002 season

Ohio State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 14–⁠0 under Jim Tressel, after it beat Miami 31–⁠24 in the Fiesta Bowl. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 2 Ohio State 31, No. 1 Miami 24 (Jan 3, 2003). One Division I-A team finished unbeaten. 64 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Carson Palmer, QB, USC, who also won the Unitas Golden Arm.

The Heisman vote: Carson Palmer 1,328 points, Brad Banks 1,095
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Carson Palmer QB, USC1,328242224154
Brad Banks QB, Iowa1,095199173152
Larry Johnson RB, Penn State726108130142
Willis McGahee RB, Miami (FL)660101118121
Ken Dorsey QB, Miami (FL)6431228999
Byron Leftwich QB, Marshall152222634
Jason Gesser QB, Washington State7452215
Chris Brown RB, Colorado4851111
Kliff Kingsbury QB, Texas Tech336211
Quentin Griffin RB, Oklahoma28189

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Ohio State
2Miami
3Georgia
4USC
5Oklahoma
6Texas
7Kansas State
8Iowa
9Michigan
10Washington State
11Alabama
12NC State
13Maryland
14Auburn
15Boise State
16Penn State
17Notre Dame
18Virginia Tech
19Pittsburgh
20Colorado
21Florida State
22Virginia
23TCU
24Marshall
25West Virginia

Biggest upsets

Nov 9, 2002Texas A&M 30, 1Oklahoma 26
Nov 2, 2002Pittsburgh 28, 3Virginia Tech 21
Nov 23, 2002Washington 29, 3Washington State 26
Nov 30, 2002Oklahoma State 38, 3Oklahoma 28
Sep 26, 2002Louisville 26, 4Florida State 20
Nov 2, 2002Boston College 14, 4Notre Dame 7
Nov 16, 2002Texas Tech 42, 4Texas 38
Nov 2, 2002Florida 20, 5Georgia 13
Oct 5, 2002Ole Miss 17, 6Florida 14
Oct 19, 2002Arizona State 45, 6Oregon 42
Aug 31, 2002Colorado State 19, 7Colorado 14
Sep 14, 2002Penn State 40, 8Nebraska 7

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 2002, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalWashington State: Wk 1 No. 11, Wk 2 No. 12, Wk 3 No. 11, Wk 4 No. 10, Wk 5 No. 16, Wk 6 No. 16, Wk 7 No. 17, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 8, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 9, Wk 16 No. 7, Final No. 1010 Washington StateMichigan: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 13, Wk 3 No. 7, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 14, Wk 6 No. 14, Wk 7 No. 14, Wk 8 No. 13, Wk 9 No. 11, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 15, Wk 12 No. 13, Wk 13 No. 12, Wk 14 No. 12, Wk 15 No. 12, Wk 16 No. 13, Final No. 99 MichiganIowa: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 24, Wk 8 No. 17, Wk 9 No. 15, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 9, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 4, Wk 16 No. 3, Final No. 88 IowaKansas State: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 No. 25, Wk 6 No. 15, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 19, Wk 9 No. 17, Wk 10 No. 20, Wk 11 No. 14, Wk 12 No. 12, Wk 13 No. 11, Wk 14 No. 10, Wk 15 No. 8, Wk 16 No. 6, Final No. 77 Kansas StateTexas: Wk 1 No. 4, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 2, Wk 8 No. 3, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 7, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 11, Wk 15 No. 10, Wk 16 No. 9, Final No. 66 TexasOklahoma: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 3, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 1, Wk 13 No. 4, Wk 14 No. 4, Wk 15 No. 3, Wk 16 No. 8, Final No. 55 OklahomaUSC: Wk 1 No. 20, Wk 2 No. 20, Wk 3 No. 18, Wk 4 No. 17, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 18, Wk 7 No. 18, Wk 8 No. 20, Wk 9 No. 19, Wk 10 No. 15, Wk 11 No. 11, Wk 12 No. 10, Wk 13 No. 8, Wk 14 No. 7, Wk 15 No. 6, Wk 16 No. 5, Final No. 44 USCGeorgia: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 10, Wk 4 No. 9, Wk 5 No. 8, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 6, Wk 9 No. 5, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 7, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 5, Wk 16 No. 4, Final No. 33 GeorgiaMiami: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 1, Wk 9 No. 1, Wk 10 No. 1, Wk 11 No. 1, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 1, Wk 16 No. 1, Final No. 22 MiamiOhio State: Wk 1 No. 13, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 6, Wk 5 No. 6, Wk 6 No. 6, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 5, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 4, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 2, Wk 16 No. 2, Final No. 11 Ohio State
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. Kansas Stateunranked → No. 7
  2. Iowaunranked → No. 8
  3. USCNo. 20 → No. 4
  4. Alabamaunranked → No. 11
  5. NC Stateunranked → No. 12

Fell

  1. TennesseeNo. 5 → unranked
  2. FloridaNo. 6 → unranked
  3. Florida StateNo. 3 → No. 21
  4. WashingtonNo. 9 → unranked
  5. NebraskaNo. 10 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

National leaders

Passing yardsKliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech)5,017 yds
Passing touchdownsKliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech)45 TD
Passer ratingBrad Banks (Iowa)157.1
Rushing yardsLarry Johnson (Penn State)2,087 yds
Rushing touchdownsWillis McGahee (Miami)28 TD
Yards per carryJosh Cribbs (Kent State) and Larry Johnson (Penn State)7.7
ReceptionsNate Burleson (Nevada)138 catches
Receiving yardsJ.R. Tolver (San Diego State)1,785 yds
Yards per catchBrandon Middleton (Houston)24.1
Receiving touchdownsRashaun Woods (Oklahoma State)17 TD
PointsBrock Forsey (Boise State)192 pts
Points per gameBrock Forsey (Boise State)14.77
Total offenseKliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech)4,903 yds
Total offense per gameByron Leftwich (Marshall)355.6
Punt return yardsSteve Suter (Maryland)771 yds
Punt return averageDan Sheldon (Northern Illinois)22.7
Kickoff return averageCharles Pauley (San José State)31.6

The NCAA’s official leaders. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

Division I-A

Atlantic Coast Conference
Florida State
Big 12
Oklahoma
Big East
Miami
Big Ten
Iowa and Ohio State (shared)
Conference USA
Cincinnati and TCU (shared)
Mid-American Conference
Marshall
Mountain West Conference
Colorado State
Pac-10
USC and Washington State (shared)
Southeastern Conference
Georgia
Sun Belt Conference
North Texas
Western Athletic Conference
Boise State

Division I-AA

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

Division II and below

North Central Conference
Northern Colorado
Northeast-10 Conference
Long Island University

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

26 playersAll 8 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 2002 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 2002 All-America teams page.

The 2002 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Defensive player of the year

Scholarship and character

Coaches

The champion’s staff

Every title staff

Ohio State 30 on the staff list

Support staff (20)

Strength and conditioning

  • Allan Johnson director of football strength and conditioning
  • Mike Cochran strength and conditioning assistant, athletic Cond. Specialist
  • Bernardo Amerson strength and conditioning assistant, athletic Cond. Specialist

Operations and recruiting

  • John Hill Program assistant
  • Bob Tucker football operations, director
  • Dick Tressel football operations, associate director
  • Debbie Broeker head coach’s Secretary
  • Betty Affeldt football Secretary, football Office associate
  • Sherrie Kauffman recruiting Secretary, football Office associate

Sports medicine and nutrition

  • Bill Davis head trainer, director of athletic training
  • Doug Calland head football trainer

Equipment

  • Danny Swain equipment manager
  • Rob Lachey assistant equipment manager
  • Mike Caldwell assistant equipment manager
  • Eric Buchanan assistant equipment manager

Video, communications and other staff

  • Mark Quisenberry video coordinator
  • John Macko football Academic Counselor
  • Sean Perkins coordinator of Building services (Woody Hayes athletic center added 2001)
  • Bill Moffitt assistant Building coordinator, Woody Hayes athletic center
  • Don Patko assistant athletics director for Facilities (oversees Woody Hayes athletic center and Ohio Stadium)

The staff as the school listed it that season, roles in the source’s words (students and graduate assistants left out). Names link to coach pages where we have one, else to Wikipedia. Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages.

Final BCS standings

1Miami12–⁠0
2Ohio State13–⁠0
3Georgia12–⁠1
4USC10–⁠2
5Iowa11–⁠1
6Washington State10–⁠2
7Oklahoma11–⁠2
8Kansas State10–⁠2
9Notre Dame10–⁠2
10Texas10–⁠2
11Michigan9–⁠3
12Penn State9–⁠3
13Colorado9–⁠4
14Florida State9–⁠4
15West Virginia9–⁠3

The last standings of the season, released December 8: the Bowl Championship Series’ formula of polls and computer rankings that matched No. 1 and No. 2 in the title game, 1998–⁠2013. From Wikipedia’s season rankings article (CC BY-SA); records as it lists them.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 17, 2002North Texas 24, Cincinnati 19New Orleans Bowl
Dec 18, 2002Marshall 38, Louisville 15GMAC Bowl
Dec 23, 2002Texas Tech 55, Clemson 15Tangerine Bowl
Dec 25, 2002UCLA 27, New Mexico 13Las Vegas Bowl
Dec 25, 2002Tulane 36, Hawai’i 28Hawai’i Bowl
Dec 26, 2002Boston College 51, Toledo 25Motor City Bowl
Dec 26, 200225Pittsburgh 38, Oregon State 13Insight Bowl
Dec 27, 2002Oklahoma State 33, Southern Miss 23Houston Bowl
Dec 27, 2002Ole Miss 27, Nebraska 23Independence Bowl
Dec 27, 20026Kansas State 34, Arizona State 27Holiday Bowl
Dec 28, 2002Virginia 48, 15West Virginia 22Continental Tire Bowl
Dec 28, 2002Wisconsin 31, 12Colorado 28Alamo Bowl
Dec 30, 2002Minnesota 29, 22Arkansas 14Music City Bowl
Dec 30, 2002Wake Forest 38, Oregon 17Seattle Bowl
Dec 31, 200219Boise State 34, Iowa State 16Humanitarian Bowl
Dec 31, 2002Purdue 34, Washington 24Sun Bowl
Dec 31, 2002TCU 17, 24Colorado State 3Liberty Bowl
Dec 31, 2002Fresno State 30, Georgia Tech 21Silicon Valley Football Classic
Dec 31, 200221Maryland 30, Tennessee 3Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 200218Virginia Tech 20, Air Force 13San Francisco Bowl
Jan 1, 200313Michigan 38, 23Florida 30Outback Bowl
Jan 1, 20039Texas 35, LSU 20Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 200320Auburn 13, 10Penn State 9Capital One Bowl
Jan 1, 200317NC State 28, 11Notre Dame 6Gator Bowl
Jan 1, 20038Oklahoma 34, 7Washington State 14Rose Bowl
Jan 1, 20034Georgia 26, 16Florida State 13Sugar Bowl
Jan 2, 20035USC 38, 3Iowa 17Orange Bowl
Jan 3, 20032Ohio State 31, 1Miami 24Fiesta Bowl

Rule book changes

Every rule book

The 2002 NCAA rule book against the one before: 14 changed and 2 retitled articles.

Rule 1: The Game, Field, Players and Equipment

  • Changed Rule 1-4-4 Mandatory Equipment (Players and Playing Equipment)

Rule 2: Definitions

  • Changed Rule 2-5-1 (Deliberate Dead-Ball Advance)
  • Changed Rule 2-7-2 Valid Signal (Fair Catch)
  • Changed Rule 2-18-1 Encro a chment (Encroachment and Offside)
  • Changed Rule 2-25-7 Inbounds Spot (Spots)
  • Changed Rule 2-27-4 Lineman and Back (Team and Player Designations)
  • Changed Rule 2-27-10 Replaced Player (Team and Player Designations)

Rule 5: Series of Downs, Line to Gain

  • Changed Rule 5-2-10 Rule Decisions Final (Down and Possession After a Penalty)

Rule 7: Snapping and Passing the Ball

  • Changed Rule 7-1-2 Not Outside an Inbounds Line (The Scrimmage)
  • Changed Rule 7-3-2 Illegal Forward Pass (Forw a rd Pass)
  • Retitled Rule 7-3-5 Eligibility Gained or Regained (Forw a rd Pass)

Rule 8: Scoring

  • Changed Rule 8-3-5 Fouls After a Try (Try Down)

Rule 9: Conduct of Players and Others Subject to Rules

  • Retitled Rule 9–⁠3 Blocking, Use of Hands or Arms (Blocking, Use of Hands or Arms)
  • Changed Rule 9-3-6 When Ball Is Loose (Blocking, Use of Hands or Arms)
  • Changed Rule 9-5-1 (Fighting)

Rule 10: Penalty Enforcement

  • Changed Rule 10-1-2 Simultaneous With Snap (Penalties Completed)

Only the first sentence of each article is compared, so a change deeper in an article (most penalty clauses, the overtime procedure) doesn’t show here, and a change that shows may be rewording. No rule text is kept: only numbers and headings. Rule books: NCAA, via Pierce’s provision dataset (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0).