St. Louis ? After a dazzling debut for Missouri, Brad Smith acted like it was no big deal.

Smith, a redshirt freshman, ran for 138 yards and passed for 152 in his first start, leading the Tigers to a 33-20 upset of Illinois on Saturday.

Missouri quarterback Brad Smith waves to the crowd. Smith, a red-shirt freshman, was celebrating a victory in his first career start, 33-20, over Illinois on Saturday in St. Louis.

“He’s another (Michael) Vick in the making,” wide receiver Justin Gage said. “I knew he had some moves and some quick feet, but what he displayed was something else, at a higher level.”

Smith, 18, said he didn’t surprise himself a bit.

“Football is football. Of course there’s butterflies, but they were minimal and at the beginning of the game they just kind of went away.

“I just run a play through my head and it’s like there’s no room for nervousness.”

Zack Abron shrugged off two lost fumbles and ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns, and the Tigers’ defense stuffed the defending Big Ten champions, who went 10-2 last year.

“This is huge,” linebacker Sean Doyle said. “I can’t really compare it to anything because we haven’t really had a whole lot of games around here like before.”

Illinois averaged a school-record 32 points last year but struggled under new quarterback Dustin Ward, the backup to Kurt Kittner the previous two seasons who was making his second career start. The Illini struggled in many other areas, too.

“I thought our guys rolled over,” tailback Antoineo Harris said. “I think we came in a little big-headed, and they put it to us.”

Smith, who became the first freshman in school history to start an opener, beat out senior Kirk Farmer for the No. 1 job in the spring and was difficult to contain all day. He sealed the victory with a 24-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run that gave Missouri a 33-14 lead. He also had a 39-yard run in the third. Throwing the ball, Smith was 15-for-26.

“That was remarkable,” coach Gary Pinkel said. “He’s a very well-grounded young man, but we’ll be critical enough of his performance to keep him working hard.”

Abron, who had 26 carries, gave Missouri its first pair of 100-yard rushers since the Tigers beat Western Michigan 48-34 Sept. 18, 1999.

“What you do is look them in the eye: ‘Can we trust you?'” Pinkel said. “If he looks you dead in the eye, then play him. He came back and did some good things.”

Ward played three ineffective quarters before getting benched, going 9-for-21 for 124 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Ward’s replacement, Jon Beutjer, hit Brandon Lloyd for an 18-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, and was 9-for-21 for 122 yards.

“I don’t know what happened,” Ward said. “We didn’t play well and it’s a reflection on me.”

Coach Ron Turner said Ward would start next week at Southern Mississippi.

“There is no controversy,” Turner said. “We have two quarterbacks we think we can win with, and I felt we needed to spark the second half.”