Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel doesn’t evaluate quarterback Brad Smith based on his 71 percent completion ratio, his 642 passing yards or his seven touchdown passes without an interception.

Pinkel won’t be swayed by the sophomore’s 354 rushing yards and two touchdowns either.

“I talked to him during the summer and told him that he would be judged at Missouri by winning games,” Pinkel said, “not for how many yards you run or throw for.”

Smith has been putting up big numbers and winning games for Missouri. The quarterback has led No. 23 Mizzou to a 4-0 record and a spot in the polls heading into today’s Big 12 Conference opener at Kansas (3-1).

Smith (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) rallied the Tigers to a 41-40 overtime victory last week against Middle Tennessee State. He engineered a 73-yard scoring drive, capped by his game-tying touchdown pass to Darius Outlaw with 1:17 to play in the fourth quarter.

It was the fifth time in his brief career and second time this season that Smith led MU on a game-tying or game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.

He didn’t stop there, scoring the winning TD in overtime.

“You can’t stop him,” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “We aren’t going to stop him. What we would like to be able to do is to slow him down and try to keep him from hurting us on big plays. When you look at him from last year to this year, he has a lot more charisma. He’s stronger. You can tell by watching him on film that he has excellent leadership qualities. He is a guy who accounts for 60 percent of their total offense, whether he is throwing it or running it. He plays hard and takes a lot of hits. We hope to prevent big plays. That’s our goal.”

Smith had one big play in Missouri’s 36-12 victory against Kansas last season at Columbia, Mo., and it was a killer. The Tigers led 21-12 when Smith broke a 75-yard touchdown run with 4:29 left in the third quarter.

Missouri quarterback Brad Smith, right, scrambles to get away from Middle Tennessee State's Michael Woods. Smith rallied the Tigers to a 41-40 victory in overtime last Saturday at Columbia, Mo.

A few minutes later, he tossed a 15-yard TD pass to Outlaw to seal the deal.

“He’s basically a running back and a great thrower,” said KU linebacker Banks Floodman. “He’s a double threat.”

Smith wasn’t a highly sought-after prospect at Chaney High in Youngstown, Ohio, but Pinkel continued to recruit Smith after leaving Toledo to take over the Mizzou program.

Smith red-shirted at MU in 2001, then seemed to come out of nowhere last season when he become just the second player in Division I history to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season. His 1,029 rushing yards set an NCAA freshman record for quarterbacks, and his 3,362 total yards set a school record.

Those numbers sparked Heisman hype for the sophomore in the preseason, and he hasn’t done much to dissuade it. He’s completed 71-of-100 passes without an interception.

“He’s pretty unique,” Floodman said. “I don’t think we’ve faced a quarterback as mobile as Brad Smith.”

Maybe not a in a game, but what about practice?

There will undoubtedly be numerous comparisons between Smith and KU quarterback Bill Whittemore today. Both are agile quarterbacks who can scramble, throw on the run and take a hit. Despite their undeniable qualities, neither was considered a blue-chip prospect in high school.

“He’s much like Brad Smith,” Floodman said of Whittemore. “He’s a great runner and a great passer. Playing with Bill every day definitely does help us get prepared for Brad Smith. I wouldn’t say they’re much different at all.”

Both are known for their toughness as well. Smith threw a key block for tailback Zack Abron last week that earned the quarterback both praise and an admonishment from his coach

“I thought it was a pretty good hit,” Pinkel said. “We have a big hit award that we give to our players, so we gave him one and told him I never want to give him another one for hitting.”

Plays like that have earned Smith the respect of his teammates and made a leader of the underclassmen.

“You love to block for a guy like that, because you know he will fight and scratch for you, too,” senior lineman A.J. Ricker said. “After an incomplete pass, when he comes back to the huddle he has that smile on his face and you know he has shaken it all off.”

While Smith’s numbers are eye-popping, he’s not caught up in statistics or accolades. After all, he knows he’ll be judged by winning and winning alone. After last week’s game, he’s 9-7 as the Tigers’ starting quarterback.

A victory today would make him 2-0 against Mizzou’s most bitter rival.

“You figure out within a week of getting to Missouri how important this game is,” Smith said. “It means a lot to everybody, including our team. We want to go out and win this ball game.”