BEN ROETHLISBERGER'S COLLEGE DAYS

MIAMI UNIVERSITY IN THE POLLS 2003

After an impressive 49 - 28 defeat of Louisville in the GMAC Bowl, Miami University’s football team rose to No. 10 in the final Associated Press poll and No. 12 in the final ESPN/ USA Today Coaches poll. Miami’s No. 10 final ranking in the AP poll was its highest since the 1974 team finished 10th and matched the Red and White’s highest finish ever. Miami broke into the top 25 on Nov. 9 after defeating nationally-ranked Bowling Green on national television. The RedHawks stand at 31-3 all time when carrying a national ranking.

When Miami University accepted an invitation to play in the 2003 GMAC Bowl, it marked the program’s first bowl appearance since the 1986 California Bowl. The RedHawks routed the University of Louisville 49-28 in front of more than 40,000 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala., securing the program’s first bowl victory since the 1975 Tangerine Bowl. Miami improved to 6-2 all-time in bowl games. Junior quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was named the GMAC Bowl MVP after throwing for 376 yards and four TDs in his RedHawk finale.

ROETHLISBERGER TAKES TWO OF MAC’S TOP AWARDS

Ben Roethlisberger walked away with the Mid-American Conference’s top awards for an offensive player in 2003, taking home the Vern Smith Award for the league’s MVP and MAC Offensive Player of the Year honor.

Roethlisberger, a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Award, put together his best collegiate season, breaking the MAC’s single-season records for passing yardage, total offense and completions while becoming just the third quarterback in MAC history to pass for 3,000 yards in three seasons and becoming the 30th quarterback in NCAA history to surpass the 10,000 yard milestone for passing yardage.

Roethlisberger was an overwhelming choice for Offensive Player of the Year, receiving 29 votes. In league MVP voting Roethlisberger garnered 16 of the 28 votes cast by league head coaches and media.

In 38 career games, Roethlisberger passed for a Miami record 10,829 yards, including a program and MAC record 4,486 yards in 2003. In just three seasons, Roethlisberger amassed the third-highest passing yardage in MAC history, trailing only four-year contributors Byron Leftwich of Marshall and Tim Lester of Western Michigan. The amazingly accurate Roethlisberger, who completed a MAC-record 65.5 percent of his career passes and hooked up on a Miami record 84 touchdown passes, surpassed 300 yards passing eight times in 2003 and was simply unstoppable over the last four games of his collegiate career, completing 90-of-125 (.720) passes for 1,437 yards, 17 TDs and only one interception.

2003                    G    Effic       A  -  C -  I    Pct    Yds   TD  Lng  Avg/G
Roethlisberger   14 165.84  495-342-10  69.1 4486  37   61    320.4

Information taken from the 2004 Miami University media guide.