BIG 12 NORTH Smith leads Missouri to division win

He threw three touchdown passes in the Tigers' 30-10 victory over Baylor.
WACO, Texas (AP) -- Brad Smith's three touchdown passes, Joe Tantarelli's three field goals, and a strong defense lifted Missouri to a 30-10 victory over Baylor on Saturday night and a lead in the Big 12 North.
The Tigers (4-1, 2-0) grabbed first place after Texas Tech whipped Nebraska 70-10. Missouri, which snapped a six-game road losing streak, returns to Texas next Saturday to play the Longhorns. It's the first time Missouri has ever been alone in first place in the division.
Smith, a Chaney High graduate, surprised Baylor (2-3, 0-2 Big 12) with two touchdown passes to red-shirt freshman tight end Martin Rucker.
Smith also tossed an 8-yard scoring pass to Sean Coffey early in the fourth quarter as the Tigers turned a close game into a blowout.
Struggled in first half
The Tigers, favored by 20 points, struggled in the first half of the nationally-televised game. The Bears beat back threat after threat to trail 13-3 at halftime. Safety Jason Simpson's 46-yard interception return gave Missouri momentum before halftime. He sped all the way to the Baylor 9-yard line after picking off Dane King.
Three plays later, Smith found Rucker with a 7-yard scoring pass. Rucker also caught a 17-yard touchdown toss in the third period.
Baylor allowed field goals of 22 and 20 yards by Tantarelli in the first half. The second came after Smith completed a 24-yard pass on 4th-and-21 to Thomson Omboga. Tantarelli's third field goal was a 31-yard thump in the fourth quarter.
Missouri, 8-2 against Baylor, showed why it has the second best defense in the Big 12.
It took a roughing-the-kicker penalty to set Baylor up for its only points in the first half, a 30-yard field goal by Kenny Webb, who was knocked down on a previous attempt.
Shawn Bell threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Trent Shelton for Baylor with 6:42 to play.