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2002 NCAA Division I-AA season
2002 NCAA Division I-AA season
Regular season
Number of teams	123
Duration	August–November
Payton Award	Tony Romo (QB, Eastern Illinois)
Buchanan Award	Rashean Mathis (FC, Bethune-Cookman)
Playoff
Duration	November 30–December 20
Championship date	December 20, 2002
Championship site	Finley Stadium; Chattanooga, Tennessee
Champion	Western Kentucky
NCAA Division I-AA football seasons
	«2001 2003»

The 2002 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I-AA level, began in August 2002, and concluded with the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 20, 2002, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers won their first I-AA championship, defeating the McNeese State Cowboys by a final score of 34−14.^[1]

Conference changes and new programs

Prior to the 2002 season, the Big South Conference began to sponsor football at the Division I-AA level.

School	2001 Conference	2002 Conference
Cal State Northridge	I-AA Independent	Dropped Program
Charleston Southern	I-AA Independent	Big South
Elon	I-AA Independent	Big South
FIU	New Program	I-AA Independent
Gardner-Webb	D-II Independent	Big South
Liberty	I-AA Independent	Big South
St. John's (NY)	Northeast	MAAC

Conference standings

2002 Atlantic 10 Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 6 Maine $^	7	–	2	11	–	3
No. 11 Northeastern $^	7	–	2	10	–	3
No. 4 Villanova ^	6	–	3	11	–	4
UMass	6	–	3	8	–	4
William & Mary	5	–	4	6	–	5
Richmond	4	–	5	4	–	7
Delaware	4	–	5	6	–	6
Hofstra	4	–	5	6	–	6
James Madison	4	–	6	5	–	7
New Hampshire	2	–	7	3	–	8
Rhode Island	1	–	8	3	–	9

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 7 Montana +^	5	–	2	11	–	3
No. 19 Montana State +^	5	–	2	7	–	6
No. 18 Idaho State +	5	–	2	8	–	3
Eastern Washington	3	–	4	6	–	5
Northern Arizona	3	–	4	6	–	5
Portland State	3	–	4	6	–	5
Sacramento State	3	–	4	5	–	8
Weber State	1	–	6	3	–	8

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Big South Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 22 Gardner–Webb $	3	–	0	9	–	1
Elon	2	–	1	4	–	7
Liberty	1	–	2	2	–	9
Charleston Southern	0	–	3	4	–	8

$ – Conference champion Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Gateway Football Conference standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 1 Western Kentucky +^	6	–	1	12	–	3
No. 5 Western Illinois +^	6	–	1	11	–	2
Youngstown State	4	–	3	7	–	4
Illinois State	4	–	3	6	–	5
Indiana State	3	–	4	5	–	7
Northern Iowa	2	–	5	5	–	6
Southern Illinois	2	–	5	4	–	8
Southwest Missouri State	1	–	6	4	–	7

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Ivy League football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 17 Penn $	7	–	0	9	–	1
Harvard	6	–	1	7	–	3
Princeton	4	–	3	6	–	4
Yale	4	–	3	6	–	4
Cornell	3	–	4	4	–	6
Dartmouth	2	–	5	3	–	7
Brown	2	–	5	2	–	8
Columbia	0	–	7	1	–	9

$ – Conference champion Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Duquesne $	8	–	0	11	–	1
Marist	5	–	3	7	–	4
Saint Peter's	5	–	3	6	–	5
Fairfield	5	–	3	5	–	6
Iona	4	–	4	5	–	6
Siena	3	–	5	3	–	7
St. John's	2	–	6	2	–	8
Canisius	2	–	6	2	–	9
La Salle	2	–	6	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion

2002 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 15 Bethune–Cookman $^	7	–	1	11	–	2
Florida A&M	5	–	3	7	–	5
Hampton	5	–	3	7	–	5
Morgan State	5	–	3	7	–	5
South Carolina State	4	–	4	7	–	5
Howard	4	–	4	6	–	5
Norfolk State	2	–	6	5	–	6
North Carolina A&T	2	–	6	4	–	8
Delaware State	2	–	6	4	–	8

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Northeast Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Albany $	6	–	1	8	–	4
Stony Brook	5	–	2	8	–	2
Sacred Heart	5	–	2	7	–	3
Wagner	4	–	3	7	–	4
Central Connecticut State	3	–	4	5	–	6
Robert Morris	2	–	5	3	–	4
Monmouth	2	–	5	2	–	8
Saint Francis (PA)	1	–	6	2	–	8

$ – Conference champion

2002 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 13 Eastern Illinois +^	5	–	1	8	–	4
No. 20 Murray State +^	5	–	1	7	–	5
No. 21 Eastern Kentucky	4	–	2	8	–	4
No. 24 Southeast Missouri State	4	–	2	8	–	4
Tennessee Tech	2	–	4	5	–	7
Tennessee State	1	–	5	2	–	10
Tennessee–Martin	0	–	6	2	–	10

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Patriot League football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 12 Fordham +^	6	–	1	10	–	3
No. 25 Colgate +	6	–	1	9	–	3
Lafayette	5	–	2	7	–	5
Lehigh	4	–	3	8	–	4
Towson	3	–	4	6	–	5
Georgetown	2	–	5	5	–	6
Holy Cross	2	–	5	4	–	8
Bucknell	0	–	7	2	–	9

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Pioneer Football League standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
North Division
Dayton xy$	4	–	0	11	–	1
San Diego	3	–	1	5	–	5
Butler	2	–	2	4	–	6
Drake	1	–	3	5	–	6
Valparaiso	0	–	4	1	–	10
South Division
Morehead State xy	3	–	0	9	–	3
Davidson	2	–	1	7	–	3
Austin Peay	1	–	2	7	–	5
Jacksonville	0	–	3	3	–	7
Championship: Dayton 28, Morehead State 0
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant

2002 Southern Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 3 Georgia Southern $^	7	–	1	11	–	3
No. 14 Wofford	6	–	2	9	–	3
No. 10 Appalachian State ^	6	–	2	8	–	4
No. 9 Furman ^	6	–	2	8	–	4
VMI	3	–	5	6	–	6
Western Carolina	3	–	5	5	–	6
East Tennessee State	2	–	6	4	–	8
Chattanooga	2	–	6	2	–	10
The Citadel	1	–	7	3	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network I-AA Poll

2002 Southland Football League standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 2 McNeese State $^	6	–	0	13	–	2
No. 16 Northwestern State ^	4	–	2	9	–	4
No. 23 Nicholls State	3	–	3	7	–	4
Stephen F. Austin	3	–	3	6	–	5
Jacksonville State	2	–	4	5	–	6
Sam Houston State	2	–	4	4	–	7
Southwest Texas State	1	–	5	4	–	7

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

2002 Southwestern Athletic Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
Alabama A&M xy	6	–	1	8	–	4
Jackson State	5	–	2	7	–	4
Alcorn State	3	–	4	6	–	5
Mississippi Valley State	3	–	4	5	–	6
Alabama State	2	–	5	6	–	6
West Division
No. 8 Grambling State xy$	6	–	1	11	–	2
Southern	5	–	2	6	–	6
Texas Southern	3	–	4	4	–	7
Arkansas–Pine Bluff	2	–	5	3	–	8
Prairie View A&M	0	–	7	1	–	10
Championship: Grambling State 31, Alabama A&M 19
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from The Sports Network Poll

2002 NCAA Division I-AA independents football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Saint Mary's		–		6	–	6
FIU		–		5	–	6
Samford		–		4	–	7
Cal Poly		–		3	–	8
Florida Atlantic		–		2	–	9
Savannah State		–		1	–	8
Southern Utah		–		1	–	10
Morris Brown		–		1	–	11

Conference champions

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

Postseason

NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket

The top four teams in the tournament were seeded;^[2] seeded teams were assured of hosting games in the first two rounds.^[3]^[4]

First Round November 30 Campus sites			Quarterfinals December 7 Campus sites			Semifinals December 14 Campus sites			National Championship Game December 20 Finley Stadium Chattanooga, TN

1	McNeese State*	21

	Montana State	14
			1	McNeese State*	24

				Montana	20
Montana*		45

Northwestern State		14
						1	McNeese State*	39

							Villanova	28
Villanova*		45

Furman		38
			Villanova*		24

			Fordham		10
4	Northeastern*	24

	Fordham	29
									1	McNeese State	14

										Western Kentucky	34
3	Georgia Southern*	34

	Bethune–Cookman	0
			3	Georgia Southern*	31

				Maine	7
Appalachian State*		13

Maine		14
						3	Georgia Southern*	28

							Western Kentucky	31
Western Kentucky*		59

Murray State		20
				Western Kentucky	31

			2	Western Illinois*	28
2	Western Illinois*	48

	Eastern Illinois	9

* Denotes host institution

References

^ "2002 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 16. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
^ Nielsen, Brian (November 25, 2002). "Eastern to go to Western in I-AA playoff matchup". Journal Gazette. Mattoon, Illinois. p. B5. Retrieved February 2, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^ Kasper, Jon (November 12, 2001). "NCAA changes format for playoff pairings". Missoulian. Missoula, Montana. p. D1. Retrieved February 2, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
^ Kasper, Jon (November 12, 2001). "NCAA changes format for playoff pairings (cont'd)". Missoulian. Missoula, Montana. p. D6. Retrieved February 2, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

[1] "2002 NCAA Division I Football Championship" (PDF). NCAA. NCAA.org. p. 16. Retrieved December 29, 2013.

[2] Nielsen, Brian (November 25, 2002). "Eastern to go to Western in I-AA playoff matchup". Journal Gazette. Mattoon, Illinois. p. B5. Retrieved February 2, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

[3] Kasper, Jon (November 12, 2001). "NCAA changes format for playoff pairings". Missoulian. Missoula, Montana. p. D1. Retrieved February 2, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

[4] Kasper, Jon (November 12, 2001). "NCAA changes format for playoff pairings (cont'd)". Missoulian. Missoula, Montana. p. D6. Retrieved February 2, 2019 – via newspapers.com.

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