Sept. 5, 2005

Columbia, Mo. - University of Missouri quarterback Brad Smith was named the SBC Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week today, as announced by the league office.

Smith earned the honor based on his scintillating performance in Mizzou's season-opening win over Arkansas State last Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. In the game, Smith had 412 yards of total offense, including 317 passing and 95 rushing. He tied an MU school record with four touchdown passes, and his rushing total put him over 3,000 for his career - making him only the third player in NCAA Division I-A history to accumulate at least 6,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing in a career.

Smith threw TD passes of 6, 1, 7 and 14 yards on the day as he led an impressive offensive display that ended with MU gaining 657 yards of total offense. That total ranked as 2nd-highest in the country during the first weekend of play, and also ranked 2nd alltime in MU single-game history - trailing only the record of 665 against Kansas in 1949 (465 rushing and 200 passing).

This marked the fifth time that Smith has won the Big 12's weekly offensive award. His other previous instances came after performances against Illinois in 2002, Nebraska and Texas Tech in 2003, and Iowa State in 2004.

Smith and his Tigers will look to move to 2-0 on the season this Saturday as they play host to the New Mexico Lobos in an evening game set for a 6 p.m. kickoff at MU's Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field. Plenty of good seats remain available for the contest, and can be purchased over the phone at 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Columbia), in person at the Mizzou Arena ticket office, or online at www.mutigers.com.