The 2003 Big 12 Championship Game was a college football game played on Saturday, December 6, 2003, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. This was the 8th Big 12 Championship Game and determined the 2003 champion of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. The game featured the Kansas State Wildcats, champions of the North division, and the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

, champions of the South division. Sponsored by soft drink brand

Dr Pepper Dr Pepper is a carbonated soft drink. It was created in the 1880s by pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, and first served around 1885. Dr Pepper was first nationally marketed in the United States in 1904. It is now also sold in Euro ...

, the game is officially known as the Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship Game.

Teams

Kansas State

The Wildcats came into the game 10–3, with a 6–2 mark in conference play. The Wildcats lost at home to

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

in September, and followed it up with losses to #13

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in Austin, and

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

in Stillwater. The Wildcats would go on to win six games in a row, including their first win in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

against the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

since 1968, clinching their third division title, and their third Big 12 Championship Game appearance.

Oklahoma

The Sooners came into the game already being called possibly the greatest team in college football history. They were undefeated, boasting a 12–0 record, including 8–0 in conference play. They ranked first in points scored per game (48.3) and points allowed (13.1) per game. They also came in with dominant victories of 65–13 and 77–0 over Texas and Texas A&M, respectively.

Game summary

In one of the most stunning upsets in national conference championship history, Kansas State upended Oklahoma, consensus No. 1 in the polls for 16 consecutive weeks, 35–7. This was the fourth consecutive win for the North Division champ in an odd-numbered year – Nebraska in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and ’99,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in 2001 and KSU in 2003. Kansas State head coach

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

’s squad played fundamental football in the Wildcats’ third trip to the title game, amassing 519 yards of total offense and clutch defense in the red zone to produce victory. On the first possession of the game, it appeared another Oklahoma rout would take place as Kejuan Jones 42-yard touchdown run just 2:49 into the game gave Oklahoma a 7–0 advantage. Snyder’s Wildcats then began a 35–0 run almost 15 minutes later in game time as tight end Brian Casey caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ell Roberson. After taking over at their own 27-yard line, the drive lasted four plays and 58 seconds for 73 yards. The drive was the first of three touchdown drives on the Wildcats’ next four possessions. After the initial score, Oklahoma’s offense went three-and-out and had a missed field goal and an interception during their next five possessions. Roberson and All-America running back

Darren Sproles Darren Lee Sproles (born June 20, 1983) is an American football executive and former running back and return specialist who is a personnel consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

turned the tide with a 21-point second quarter. Roberson had 30.3 yards per connection and threw three TD passes in the opening half while Sproles rumbled to an eventual championship record of 235 rushing yards. Two of the nation’s testiest defenses entering the game allowed almost 1,000 yards (917 total), but the Wildcats limited the nation’s No. 1 scoring team (48.3 points per game) to a touchdown and added a defensive score to ice the game with 10:16 left to play. Sophomore linebacker Ted Sims returned an interception 27 yards for the fifth K-State touchdown of the night.

Scoring summary

First Quarter
OU (0–7) - Kejuan Jones 42-yard run (Trey DiCarlo kick); 12:11 Second Quarter
KSU (7–7) - Brian Casey 19-yard pass from Ell Roberson (Joe Rheem kick); 13:57
KSU (14–7) - James Terry 63-yard pass from Roberson (Rheem kick); 11:34
KSU (21–7) -

60-yard pass from Roberson (Rheem kick); 3:18 Third Quarter
KSU (28–7) - Antoine Polite 10-yard pass from Roberson (Rheem kick); 3:02 Fourth Quarter
KSU (35–7) - Ted Sims 27-yard interception return (Rheem kick); 10:16

After the game

Despite the blowout defeat, the Sooners would only fall to #2 in the BCS rankings and go on to play in the

2004 Sugar Bowl The 2004 Nokia Sugar Bowl, the BCS National Championship Game for the 2003 college football season, was played on January 4, 2004 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The teams were the Oklahoma Sooners and the LSU Tigers. The Ti ...

(National Championship game), losing to the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

, 21–14. Kansas State went on to lose to the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tre ...

in the

2004 Fiesta Bowl The 2004 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 2, 2004, was the 33rd edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game pitted #7 Ohio State against #8 Kansas State. It was a match-up between a perennial powerhouse in Ohio State, and a school that was only ...

, 35–28.Fiesta Bowl info
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References

External links

{{Oklahoma Sooners football navbox Big 12 Championship Game Big 12 Championship Game Kansas State Wildcats football games Oklahoma Sooners football games 2000s in Kansas City, Missouri Big 12 Championship Game Big 12 Championship Game