Davey's sweet ending proves entirely too much for Illinois

NEW ORLEANS -- Given one last chance to make a national name for himself, Rohan Davey delivered. Fact is, so did the whole LSU team.

Showing off the strong arm that he hopes will make him an NFL quarterback, Davey guided a record-setting offense Tuesday that sent the No. 12 Tigers over No. 7 Illinois 47-34 in the Sugar Bowl.

"This was kind of his game," coach Nick Saban said Wednesday.

Davey closed out his career in purple-and-gold by throwing for three touchdowns, setting a Sugar mark by passing for 444 yards and winning the MVP award.

The LSU senior did not get a lot of attention this season, certainly nothing compared to the notoriety that quarterbacks Eric Crouch, Rex Grossman and Ken Dorsey received.

And when Davey was knocked out of the Southeastern Conference championship game because of bruised ribs, not even the Tigers knew how he'd bounce back after 24 days off.

But helped by All-America receiver Josh Reed and running back Domanick Davis, Davey did just fine. Of the 68 Sugar Bowls in history, this was the highest-scoring one.

"I really wanted to come out in this game and play well," Davey said. "We were more or less excited to get going, to play a football game."

Davey's next game will be the Senior Bowl. No telling about Reed.

Reed, the Biletnikoff Award winner as the nation's top receiver, set Sugar marks by catching 14 passes for 239 yards. The junior scored on grabs of 32 and 5 yards.

Davis scored a Sugar-record four touchdowns, three in the first half as LSU (10-3) romped to a 27-0 lead.

Down 34-7 at halftime, Illinois (10-2) rallied behind Kurt Kittner, who threw four TD passes. The Illini made it closer, but never had the ball when they were even within two touchdowns.