Chaney grad Smith has Stoops' focus

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN
NORMAN, Okla. -- Missouri quarterback Brad Smith dashed through the vaunted Nebraska defense. And the performance looked disturbingly familiar.
"It looked like playing us a year ago," said Oklahoma co-defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. "It's a hopeless feeling sometimes as a defensive coach when he gets going like that ... obviously, he embarrassed us last year."
In 2002, Smith, a Chaney graduate, rushed for 213 yards against the Sooners in a breakout performance. He brought the Tigers to the brink of an upset before OU faked a field goal for the winning touchdown.
"I don't think we were as prepared for the quarterback run game as we needed to be last year," Stoops said, "and they really hurt us."
Now, as top-ranked OU plays host to 24th-ranked Missouri Saturday night, Smith is coming off his best performance of the season. But OU coaches and players believe their defense is better prepared this time.
Last week, in a 41-24 win over Nebraska, Smith passed for 180 yards and rushed for 123. The Huskers, then undefeated and ranked 10th, were allowing only 72.8 yards rushing per game.
Missouri beat Nebraska for the first time since 1978. Smith was named the Big 12's offensive player of the week. He comes to Norman a marked man, after having the "surprise" factor as an unknown freshman a year ago.
"Not to take anything away from him, but I think that was the first Big 12 game, and we really didn't know what kind of player he was to that point," defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek said, "and he put it on us."