<p>The game was bad enough for the Miami Hurricanes. What happened immediately after was even worse.</p><p>No. 9 Miami suffered its worst loss in more than seven years on Friday night, a 40-3 defeat to 10th-ranked LSU in the Peach Bowl _ a game marred by a skirmish near one of the field exit tunnels shortly after the game.</p><p>Miami coach Larry Coker said he was told the incident started when an LSU player tried to grab a game ball from a ballboy on the Hurricanes' sideline. That sparked a melee with more than a dozen players involved in some capacity, and which apparently led to two Miami players being knocked unconscious.</p><p>"As a university, as a football program, we don't condone any type of activities such as that," Coker said. "Certainly, I think, that detracts from a great bowl game and what the spirit of college football is all about."</p><p>Coker said the two unconscious players were Andrew Bain and Khalil Jones. Neither was hospitalized, said Coker, who was told that those players were injured by someone swinging a helmet during the scuffle.</p><p>Miami players were not made available for comment after the game.</p><p>"That was a bunch of craziness," LSU offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth said.</p><p>It was a trying end to a season that started with promise for the Hurricanes, who lost two regular-season games _ both on missed opportunities.</p><p>On Friday night, the problems went far deeper.</p><p>Miami was simply dominated by LSU, giving up more than 300 yards by halftime and doing nothing right offensively, either. It was the most one-sided beating absorbed by a Miami team since Nov. 28, 1998, a 66-13 loss to Syracuse.</p><p>The night started with such promise. Miami marched down the field on its first possession, taking a 3-0 lead on Jon Peattie's chip-shot field goal early in the first quarter.</p><p>Things soured quickly.</p><p>When Miami quarterback Kyle Wright came up short on a fourth-and-inches early in the second quarter, LSU got the ball _ and seized momentum. Playing before a decidedly pro-Tigers crowd, LSU opened a 20-3 lead by halftime, then scored the first 20 points of the second half while heads drooped on the Miami sideline.</p><p>The loss assures that the Hurricanes won't finish ranked among the nation's top 10 teams and probably not as the highest-rated club in the Atlantic Coast Conference _ two of the team's biggest goals entering the Peach Bowl, which they won with ease over Florida a year ago.</p><p>In Miami's first loss, against Florida State, the Hurricanes missed a chance for an easy field goal at the end and lost 10-7. Against Georgia Tech, a crucial fourth-and-short wasn't converted, helping seal a 14-10 defeat.</p><p>But there was nothing close about this one.</p><p>"I don't think we stopped playing," Coker said. "I don't think we played the entire day."</p><p>Wright completed only 10 of 21 passes for 100 yards, victimized by drops and never-ending pressure from LSU's swarming defensive front. The Hurricanes couldn't stop LSU running back Joseph Addai, who rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown.</p><p>And by night's end, Miami was outgained 468-153 _ a truly stunning stat, considering the Hurricanes came into the game ranked among the nation's stingiest defenses.</p><p>"They played," Coker said. "And we didn't."</p>
