Hurricanes to Face Louisiana State Tigers in Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl
Dec. 4, 2005
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami Hurricanes will take on the Louisiana State Tigers in the 38th annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Classic at the Georgia Dome on December 30. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN and is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
Miami is ranked No. 9 in all three polls released today, and LSU is No. 10, making this matchup one of only three between top 10 teams among the 28 bowl games.
A news conference has been scheduled for 12:00 noon Monday in the Edgerrin James Room of the Hecht Athletic Center. Representing the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will be: chairman Leeman Bennett, president Gary Stokan and Chick-fil-A senior vice president of marketing Steve Robinson. Also attending will be UM athletic director Paul Dee, head coach Larry Coker, and several Hurricanes players, including Eric Winston and Kelly Jennings.
“We’ve accepted an invitation to play in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta,” Coker said. “We’re very excited about the matchup in this game. We’re going to play an outstanding LSU team, and we think it’s one of the best matchups of this bowl season. We have said all along we wanted to play the best opponent, and we got that. It’s going to be great bowl game and we’re going to have to prepare well. We’re very excited about this opportunity, and I’m sure our fans will be as excited as well.
“The LSU-Miami matchup is a very attractive game,” Coker added. “There is the BCS national championship game between Southern California and Texas, and the Fiesta Bowl between Notre Dame and Ohio State. And now there’s Miami-LSU. People watching television will want to watch this game. Plus, there has not been a Miami-LSU game in a number of years, so this will be very attractive to people who want to watch a great college football game.”
Miami and Louisiana State will be meeting for the 12th time ever and for only the second time in 36 years. The Tigers lead the series 8-3. The two teams last played in 1988, a 44-3 Miami victory. Prior to that, they had not played since 1969.
Miami returns to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl one year after defeating Florida 27-10 on December 31, 2004. This will be the third appearance for the Hurricanes in the Peach Bowl. On Jan. 2, 1981, the Hurricanes defeated Virginia Tech 20-10 in the Peach Bowl in a game that has been credited as the turning point in the Miami football program. Prior to that Peach Bowl, Miami had not appeared in a bowl game for 14 years. Since that game, the Hurricanes have qualified for 21 bowl games in 25 years.
Miami is making its 32nd bowl appearance overall. The Hurricanes have a record of 18-13 in 31 previous bowl games. The 9-2 Hurricanes finished in second place in the Coastal Division of the ACC. Louisiana State finished 10-2 and won the SEC Western Division before losing the SEC championship game to Georgia last night.
