SHREVEPORT, La. • The day began inauspiciously enough for Mizzou, with MU mascot Truman the Tiger, alas, fumbling and shattering the Independence Bowl glass trophy before the game.

But ultimately, that was about the only hitch for the school Monday.

Before a rain-soaked crowd of perhaps a quarter of the 41,728 announced to have paid, the Tigers scored on all five of their first-half possessions to seize a 31-7 lead on the way to a 41-24 victory over North Carolina.

"We won the game, so we can keep on breaking trophies as long as we win," joked MU receiver Wes Kemp, the senior from De Smet who scored Mizzou's first touchdown.

Per mascot custom, Truman couldn't comment, but he did enact a replay of the scene for KOMU-TV in Columbia, which photographed him burying his face in his hands.

"I'm glad he didn't carry the football," Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said.

The way things went on the field, though, he might have done OK.

With the Mizzou line plowing aside a Carolina rush defense known for its NFL prospects for 337 yards, this year's edition of the Tigers became just the third to rush for more than 3,000 yards since 1958.

"We've got NFL linemen on our line, too," MU left tackle Justin Britt said.

With the win over UNC (7-6), the Tigers (8-5) ended the season with four straight victories for the first time since 1965 and put to rest a two-game bowl losing streak.

The total victories, the season-ending streak and the bowl win itself were just three of the nine motivations to play that MU seniors gave Pinkel, who pulled out the list after the game.

The list also included having momentum going into the Southeastern Conference next year, when MU leaves the Big 12 and the various configurations it has been in for more than century.

That in itself made this Independence Bowl appearance historic, said Pinkel, adding that some day after he's gone the line of demarcation will be a trivia question.

The second part of the question, he added, would be whether MU won the game, which it did with what Pinkel called a complete - but not perfect - game.

That included a major spark from sophomore quarterback James Franklin, who amassed 274 yards of total offense (132 passing, 142 rushing) to finish with 3,846 yards, the fourth-best total in school history. Chase Daniel is on all three rungs above him.

Afterward, Pinkel approached Franklin and playfully said, "What happens when you really get good?"

Despite the overwhelming victory, which looked closer than it was after a late Tar Heels touchdown, the Tigers gave up an almost instantaneous touchdown to open the game.

Whatever flux the Tar Heels were in as they awaited their third coach in five months after Butch Davis was fired and interim coach Everett Withers was passed over for the permanent job, they jumped to a 7-0 lead just 2:48 into the game on a 22-yard pass from Bryn Renner to Dwight Jones.

But the Tigers tied it 2:06 later when receiver T.J. Moe, a star quarterback at Fort Zumwalt West, took a lateral from Franklin and found the abandoned Kemp for a 40-yard touchdown.

By quarter's end, MU had a lead it wouldn't relinquish when Franklin bashed in from 2 yards out.

With the Tigers' defense squelching UNC, MU made it 17-7 on Trey Barrow's 31-yard field goal, set up by a 27-yard Kendial Lawrence burst from the Mizzou 6 after a Tar Heels punt gave them a chance to hem in the Tigers.

After MU's Jacquies Smith pounced on a Giovani Bernard fumble at the Carolina 40 forced by Tiger linebacker Andrew Wilson, the Tigers went ahead 24-7 on an 8-yard strike from Franklin to Jerrell Jackson in the back of the end zone.

Boosted by Franklin's 16-yard run on third and 13 and an attached personal foul on UNC, MU made it 31-7 on a 9-yard run by Lawrence (108 yards) with 3:02 left in the half, giving the Tigers a school record for points in a bowl half.

Carolina ended the half with a 21-yard field goal, leaving it 21 down.

As it has all season, MU slowed down in the third quarter.

Franklin was intercepted in Carolina territory on Mizzou's first drive of the second half, and the Tigers were forced into their first punt of the game a series later.

After converting on a third and 13, Carolina cut it to 31-17 on a 44-yard pass from Renner to Jheranie Boyd with 4:22 left in the third.

But ignited by Moe's 49-yard kickoff return, an MU season-best that included a pump fake on what was set up for a lateral, the Tigers made it 38-17 just 2:26 later on Franklin's 2-yard run.

A 26-yard field goal rounded out Mizzou's scoring, and the Tar Heels scored a token touchdown with 4:08 left on a 17-yard pass from Renner to Erik Highsmith.