University of Missouri quarterback Brad Smith was named one of 15 semifinalists for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, as announced Tuesday by the Davey O'Brien Foundation.  The award is presented annually to the nation's best college quarterback.

Smith, Mizzou's record-setting signal caller, will be playing in the final home game of his storied career this Saturday, when MU hosts Baylor at 1 p.m. at Faurot Field.  Smith, who holds 47 different MU, Big 12 Conference and NCAA game, season and career records, needs 93 rushing yards to become the first player in NCAA Division I-A history to amass 8,000 yards passing and 4,000 yards rushing in a career.  Last week, he broke the DI-A career record for rushing yards by a quarterback, breaking the old mark of 3,895 held by Indiana's Antwaan Randle-El.

Smith enters Saturday's game against Baylor with 12,104 yards of total offense in his career - including totals of 8,197 passing yards and 3,907 rushing yards.  He stands just 160 yards of total offense away from breaking the Big 12 career record of 12,263 by Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury.  If Smith passes Kingsbury, he would move into 6th-place on the NCAA Division I-A career total offense chart.

Smith joins the following quarterbacks as semi-finalists for the prestigious award:  Brett Basanez (Northwestern), Brian Brohm (Louisville), Brodie Croyle (Alabama), Jay Cutler (Vanderbilt), Cody Hodges (Texas Tech), Omar Jacobs (Bowling Green), Matt Leinart (USC), Drew Olson (UCLA), Paul Pinegar (Fresno State), Brady Quinn (Notre Dame), Michael Robinson (Penn State), Drew Stanton (Michigan State), Marcus Vick (Virginia Tech) and Vince Young (Texas).

The O'Brien Selection Committee, composed of national sportswriters and commentators, as well as former O'Brien Award winners, will vote later this month to narrow the field again.  The three finalists will be announced Tuesday, Nov. 22 by the National College Football Awards Association in a joint effort among college football award programs.  For more information on the award, please visit www.daveyobrien.com.

Plenty of tickets remain available for Saturday's home finale.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.mutigers.com, or ordered on the phone by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Columbia), or in person at the Mizzou Ticket Office located at Mizzou Arena.