Mettenberger to miss bowl after knee injury

BATON ROUGE – LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger will miss the bowl game after suffering a season-ending knee injury during the fourth quarter of the Tigers’ 31-27 win over Arkansas last Friday in Tiger Stadium.

The specifics of Mettenberger’s knee injury will not be disclosed by the school, which remains consistent with head coach Les Miles’ policy on reporting injuries.

“We are very disappointed for Zach,” Miles said on Wednesday. “He’s been a tremendous leader for our team and he’s as competitive a guy as I have ever been around. He’s had a great impact on our program.

“I know Zach will work extremely hard to rehabilitate his knee and I don’t anticipate this injury having any impact on what should be a great future in the NFL.”

Mettenberger, who became just the third player in LSU history to throw for at least 3,000 yards in a season this year, finishes his career with the Tigers ranked in the top 10 in six passing categories: completion percentage (third at 61.7 pct.), yards per game (third at 192.8), touchdowns (fifth with 35), yards (sixth with 5,783), completions (sixth with 407) and attempts (seventh with 659).

In 2013, Mettenberger threw for 3,082 yards (third in school history), 22 touchdowns (third in school history) and his 64.9 completion percentage ranks as the third-highest at the school.

Mettenberger is the only player in LSU history to throw for 2,500 or more yards in back-to-back seasons and he finished his career with a 19-6 record as a starter.