Missouri’s
Brad Smith is a great quarterback. He has the ability to run and pass, and
basically just torment opposing defenses.
However, against Kansas State Smith has been a non-factor.
Last season in Manhattan,
Smith was 14-of-28 with one interception and one touchdown for 155 yards. But
on the ground, he had a whopping 26 yards on 16 carries.
When K-State travels to Columbia
Saturday, not only will the Wildcats be trying to contain the electrifying
junior quarterback, but they’ll be defending an 11-game win streak over the
Tigers.
K-State sophomore defensive back Maurice Mack said the key
to slowing Smith down is getting in his face.
“We have seen film from this year and we watched film from
last year,” he said. “We were able to contain him and get him in zone
situations and he had trouble with pressure in his face and he was always
trying to move around. He’s just like every other quarterback. If you get
pressure on him, he will have trouble trying to throw the ball while he’s
trying to scramble. I think if we just keep putting pressure on the
quarterback, we'll be fine.”
Wildcat head coach Bill Snyder said he thinks some of
K-State’s success against Smith can be attributed to the fact that K-State sees
a similar offense in practice everyday.
“We’ve played well,” he said. “I
think good preparation (is the reason for success) as much as anything. It’s
been suggested, and I tend to agree with that, that because our offense can be
similar to what they can do and what they have done with Brad, and therefore,
on a regular basis, in particular during the spring and two-a-days period and a
little while at each practice throughout the year, we have the opportunity to
experience the same kind of things defensively. I think it helps.”
However, comparing defenses of year’s past might be the same
as comparing it this season’s defense.
K-State has struggled off and on this season on defense, but
at times shown the same aggressiveness that has kept Smith under its thumb.
However, senior defensive tackle Jermaine Berry that once
things go fine in practice, it hasn’t always carried over into the games.
“For some people it’s a
reoccurring thing,” he said. “For some people, it’s just that some things go
wrong every time. Personally, I think it’s just one little thing that keeps
happening that we just can’t put our finger on it. We work on stuff during
practice and it goes perfect during practice and we don’t have a problem with
what we are doing. But execution-wise, once we get into the games, it’s just one
of those things where if one person out of eleven gets in the wrong spot, stuff
happens.”