LSU shreds ‘Canes

Louisiana State knows how to handle Hurricanes.

The well-rested Tigers blew out the Miami Hurricanes in a 40-3 victory in the Peach Bowl in front of 65,620 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Friday night. It was the largest margin of victory in a Peach Bowl since 1972.

No. 10 LSU (11-2) put up 468 total yards against No. 9 Miami (9-3), the No. 3 defensive team in the nation.

Tailback Joseph Addai, bothered by an injured ankle for the second half of the season, gained 130 yards on 25 carries, including 89 on 17 carries in the first half. He also caught a 4-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds to go in the first half for a 20-3 LSU lead.

Backup quarterback Matt Flynn started his first collegiate game in place of JaMarcus Russell, who separated his shoulder in the SEC championship game, and completed 13 of 22 passes for 196 yards and two TDs and won the offensive most valuable player award.

There were shoves and punches thrown between players immediately after the game as both teams left the field into the same tunnel. Georgia State Patrol officers intervened.

Miami coach Larry Coker said players Khalil Jones and Andrew Bain were knocked unconscious. They weren’t hospitalized. No players were detained by police.

Independence Bowl

South Carolina’s game plan of keeping Brad Smith in check worked great – for a half, anyway.

Then, the Missouri quarterback broke loose, as he’s done so often, rushing for three touchdowns – including a 1-yarder in the final minutes – and passing for another to rally the Tigers for a 38-31 victory over the Gamecocks in Shreveport, La.

Smith, who rushed for 1,151 yards and passed for 2,022 this season, accounted for 431 of Missouri’s 504 yards as the Tigers staged their biggest comeback victory of the year.

Missouri (7-5) trailed 21-0 after the first quarter as Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks dominated the first half. Smith completed 21 of 37 passes for 282 yards, with one touchdown and an interception. He passed for 200 or more yards for the 18th time. He also ran for 150 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries.

Marcus King gave Missouri its first points, intercepting a Blake Mitchell pass just outside the goal line and returning it 99 yards to make it 21-7 in the second quarter.

Music City Bowl

Connor Hughes kicked a 39-yard field goal with 1:08 left, and quarterback Marques Hagans helped Virginia overcome a 14-point deficit to beat Minnesota 34-31 in Nashville, Tenn.

Minnesota (7-5) had every opportunity to blow out the Cavaliers (7-5) and win this bowl for the third time in four years, but the nation’s fifth-best offense bogged down after taking a 31-24 lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Gophers had one last chance to pull out their fourth straight bowl victory, but Marcus Hamilton intercepted Bryan Cupito’s ill-advised pass into double coverage in the end zone with 36 seconds remaining to seal the game for Virginia.

Virginia already had forced the Gophers to punt twice, and Hagans overcame an interception in the fourth quarter to rally the Cavaliers with 10 straight points to end the game. He finished with a career-high 358 yards passing.

The Gophers might have been distracted in what could be coach Glen Mason’s final game at Minnesota. He has a year left, but school officials want to make a decision by tonight when they must either terminate his assistants’ contracts or see them roll over to 2006.

The Cavs outgained Minnesota 468-461 in total offense with their best performance of the season.