2003 Manhattan Bowl (Napoleon's World)

The 2003 Manhattan Bowl was the 43rd annual playing of the bowl, and the second-to-last Manhattan Bowl played at the Jersey Dome in Newark, NJ. The 2003 Manhattan Bowl, held on January 9th, 2003, also served as the college football national championship game for the 2002 season, as agreed upon by the presidents and athletic directors at the NCAA Conference in Tuscaloosa in 1999.

The game was hyped due to its pitting of Virginia head coach Dick Cheney against his alma mater, Apachia, which was heavily favored and coached by Pat Strong. Virginia wound up scoring a huge upset, beating the Buffaloes 31-17 in a game more lopsided than the final score. It was the national title game with the highest attendance up to that point and gave the Cavaliers their second football national championship, and first since 1939.

Virginia Cavaliers
The Cavaliers entered the season ranked No. 11 nationally, coming off of an 10-2 season the year before that they had ended on a high note by beating Western New York, the NEC champion, in the Manhattan Bowl. They returned three All-Americans on defense: linebacker Ike Crowder, defensive end Adrian Sutton, and corner Luka Dizon. While they had graduated Ronald Henry from the secondary and linebacker Stephon Lewis had chosen to go out for the AFL Draft, Virginia was considered to have the best defense bar none in the Atlantic conference. With seven returning defensive starters and nine returning starters on offense, Virginia was a prohibitive favorite to win the Atlantic and a unanimous preseason lock to win their division.

Virginia established itself early with a huge non-conference 30-24 victory on the road at Lakes powerhouse Missouri in the first week, a nationally televised game over the No. 18 team in the country. Virginia established itself as a power-running team behind tailbacks James Gabriel and Tre Biggs. Quarterback Kevin James, a dual-threat player, had his national breakthrough game in the conference opener against No. 22 Clemson, in which the Cavaliers won