One Hot Mess: Revisiting a Wild 2003 Season & Insight Bowl vs Cal

Virginia Tech and Cal face each other for just the second time ever on Friday night, and the first time since the Insight Bowl in Phoenix 22 years ago. It would have been hard to fathom that night, or frankly as recently as two summers ago, that these schools would be ACC conference mates, but here we are.

The 2003 Insight Bowl had something for everyone. If you loved touchdowns, it was paradise; if you were Bud Foster, it was torture. But the night also introduced the nation to a sophomore quarterback named Aaron Rodgers, who would play a central role in capping one of the most confounding seasons in Virginia Tech football history.

A junior college standout, Rodgers had nearly given up on pursuing a future in football when Cal coach Jeff Tedford found him at Butte College in Oroville, CA while recruiting another player.

Tedford wooed Rodgers to Cal, but it wasn’t until the fifth game of the 2003 season that Rodgers claimed the starting QB job in Berkeley. By the time the Insight Bowl rolled around, though Rodgers himself was rolling. He tied the school’s single-season mark with five 300-yard passing games and set a school record for lowest interception percentage (1.43%).

It was his tenth career college start, but Rodgers was ready for the matchup at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix. 

Virginia Tech, on the other hand, was a talented mess. Despite boasting at least 15 significant contributors that would spend time on an NFL roster, Tech entered this game reeling. 

The Hokies entered the 2003 season in the top 10 and stayed there for most of the year thanks to a 6-0 start where they rarely trailed. The Hokies outscored their opponents by 31 points per game over that stretch, scored 35 in the middle of Hurricane Isabel against Texas A&M and hung 51 in a thrashing of Syracuse. 

Then Morgantown happened.

The Hokies walked into a buzz saw at West Virginia on a Wednesday night where their heated rivals, the Mountaineers, took out all of their frustrations on Tech. West Virginia turned two early turnovers into touchdowns, whipping the partisan crowd into a frenzy, and the Hokies were done. 

Tech committed 13 penalties for 116 yards that night. Bryan Randall had three interceptions and the Hokies fumbled the ball five times (losing one). “When you turn the ball over like we did,” said Coach Beamer, “you’ll have a tough time winning ball games.” Were it not for a 50-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Vincent Fuller, the Hokies’ still-active scoring streak would have died that night.

Coming back the following weekend with a thorough dismantling of #2 Miami in Blacksburg made for a special night at Lane Stadium. That night was as electric as it gets, but it turned out to be the anomaly of the rest of the season. 

In the season’s final five games (including the bowl game), the Hokies led each game in the fourth quarter and lost four of them. The only win came at Temple (who finished 1-10) in overtime when the Owl’s kicker missed an extra point.

Nothing felt particularly settled in 2003. It was the Hokies’ last season as members of the Big East. The calls didn’t seem to go their way too often. Their final road conference games would prove perilous. And despite boasting an obviously talented roster, fitting it all together proved somewhat difficult.

What to do with Marcus Vick was emblematic of that difficulty. Vick was clearly skilled, if not yet polished enough to be the starting quarterback. Bryan Stinespring, in his second season as Tech’s offensive coordinator, mixed and matched Vick and Bryan Randall at QB and tried to do what he could to get the ball in Vick’s hands. He ended up 30-for-57 for 475 yards passing on the year with 2 TD and 5 INT and 102 yards rushing. He even caught four passes (one for a TD) in the Insight Bowl. Vick also was on the precipice of a string of off-field issues that would sideline him for the 2004 season and eventually earn his dismissal after 2005.  

Running back Kevin Jones was on his way to a record-setting 1,647 yards rushing that accompanied 21 touchdowns and earned him All American honors. And Jake Grove was capping his final season with a Rimington Trophy, presented to the country’s top center. But the rest of the offense started to wane. After averaging 46 points per game in the first six contests, the Hokies averaged just 27 points per game in the final seven.

On defense, despite a talented secondary that boasted DeAngelo Hall, Eric Green, Garnell Wilds and Vincent Fuller (all who went to the league), the defense severely went astray in the second half of the season. In the first six games, the defense gave up an average of just 15 points and 280 yards of offense per game. In the last seven, those numbers were a ghoulish 30 points and 443 yards.

And so, the 2003 Insight Bowl ultimately served as a microcosm of the season for both teams, ending with a last-second field goal that felt strangely anticlimactic. 

The juggernaut Golden Bears, led by their newfound star Rodgers, started the game confidently with a touchdown drive. The Hokies responded with 21 straight points, carving up the Golden Bear defense with creative play calling and tremendous execution. 

Bryan Randall (24-34, 398 yards, 4 TD) was fantastic early and late in this one. He, Vick and Jones were active in the running and passing game. Unfortunately for Tech, Cal scored touchdowns on their next six possessions and the track meet was on. 

Perhaps it was fatigue. Tech scored seven touchdowns, but only one came on a possession of longer than 2 minutes, 38 seconds (a 3:34 drive late in the second quarter). That led to Cal’s time of possession advantage for the game of 37 minutes to 23. Perhaps it was poor mental focus on defense which seemed to plague the Hokies down the stretch. Whatever the reason, it was a mess, and a familiar one.

The lasting memory from this game was Rodgers smiling to the point of laughter as he carved up the Tech defense. Not fun.

The Hokies did score 21 fourth quarter points, capped by a 52-yard punt return by DeAngelo Hall with 3:11 remaining to tie the game. But Tech fans had seen this movie too many times in 2003. Rodgers surgically drove his Golden Bears down the field for the game-winning field goal as time expired and took home the MVP trophy for the bowl game.

Rodgers finished 27-for-35 for 394 yards, two touchdowns passing and two rushing. It was his fifth 300-yard game in his last seven. It was also his last 300-yard game as a college player, believe it or not. 

Rodgers played one more season in Berkeley, leading the Bears to a 10-2 record in 2004 before being taken in the first round by the Green Bay Packers in the 2005 draft. The young player coming into his own that night in Phoenix is now a 41-year-old four-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl Champion and he sits in the top 5 of most of the important career passing categories. He is currently the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Once #3 in the country, Tech finished the 2003 season unranked. However, the Hokies joined the ACC and promptly won the 2004 conference championship in its debut season, beginning a string of eight consecutive 10+ win seasons.

Jake Grove (2014), Bryan Randall (2015), Kevin Jones (2016), DeAngelo Hall (2016) and Darryl Tapp (2018) were each inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. 

Jake Grove started 56 games over a six-year career, mostly with the Oakland Raiders. 

Bryan Randall played multiple professional seasons in Canada and in Arena Leagues before returning to his hometown to become William & Mary’s quarterbacks coach in 2025. 

Kevin Jones was drafted by the Detroit Lions and joined Barry Sanders and Billy Sims as the only players in franchise history to rush for over 1000 yards in their rookie season.

DeAngelo Hall went on to a successful 14-year NFL career that included three Pro Bowl seasons. He also owns the NFL record for career fumble return yardage. 

Darryl Tapp enjoyed a 12-year NFL career before entering the coaching ranks, first in college (including Virginia Tech in 2020) and then to the pros. He’s currently a defensive line coach for the Washington Commanders.

Many more players went on to successful NFL careers as well.  Below is ESPN's broadcast of the game if you're interested.

• National Champion: USC
• Heisman Trophy: Jason White, QB, Oklahoma
• AP Player of the Year: Jason White, QB, Oklahoma
• Walter Camp Player of the Year: Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Pitt
• Biletnikoff Awarrd: Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Pitt
• Johnny Unitas Award: Eli Manning, QB, Ole MIss
• Dave Rimington Trophy: Jake Grove, C, Virginia Tech
• Outland Trophy: Robert Gallery, OL, Iowa
• AP Coach of the Year: Nick Saban, LSU
• Walter Camp Coach of the Year: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
• AFCA Coach of the Year: Pete Carroll, USC