SHREVEPORT, La. - Jaylen Samuels caught three touchdown passes from Ryan Finley, Nyheim Hines returned a kickoff for a 100-yard touchdown and North Carolina State beat Vanderbilt 41-17 on Monday night in the Independence Bowl.
North Carolina State (7-6) won three of its final four games to finish with a winning record. The Wolfpack built a 28-3 lead by midway through the third quarter - largely thanks to Samuels' touchdown catches of 9, 55 and 17 yards - and then held off a brief Vanderbilt rally.
Finley completed 19 of 30 passes for 235 yards. Samuels' three touchdown catches were an Independence Bowl record.
Vanderbilt (6-7) had a lot of momentum going into the game thanks to surprising wins over Mississippi and Tennessee to end the regular season. But the Commodores' offense - which scored a combined 83 points against the Rebels and Volunteers - struggled for most of the night.
Vanderbilt's Kyle Shurmur completed just 19 of 46 passes for 158 yards and three interceptions. Even so, the Commodores briefly made things interesting, closing to 28-17 early in the fourth quarter.
But that's when Hines responded his big kickoff return to put the game out of reach.
THE TAKEAWAY
Vanderbilt: The Commodores' offense took a step backward after some late-season improvement. Veteran running back Ralph Webb had another nice game with 111 yards rushing and a touchdown, but Shurmur's struggles throwing the ball were too much to overcome.
NC State: The Wolfpack end a frustrating season with an impressive win. They were fantastic on defense for most of the night and the Finley-to-Samuels connection couldn't be stopped by Vanderbilt.
UP NEXT
Vanderbilt: The Commodores took a major step forward this season by making a bowl game in coach Derek Mason's third season. Vanderbilt will have a few holes to fill, but should return several key players in 2017.
NC State: The Wolfpack are still struggling to push into the upper tier of the Atlantic Coast Conference. NC State finishes with another winning season under coach Dave Doeren, but the program feels a little stuck at the moment.