Daniel returns to home state of Texas

EL PASO, Texas -- The Sun Bowl is a bit of a homecoming for Chase Daniel. Missouri's Texas-bred quarterback expects a large rooting section during Friday's game.

Daniel promises not to get carried away by the surroundings. This is a business trip, and he's more interested in the Tigers (8-4) finishing on a positive note against No. 24 Oregon State.

"He's played in Texas so many times, I think he's kind of beyond all that stuff, really," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "He's a pretty mature guy. If you ask him, he'll just tell you he wants to win."

In his first year as the starter, the sophomore shattered school records for touchdown passes (26) and yardage (3,197). The transition from do-it-all Brad Smith to a player better at getting the other skill players involved has been fairly seamless.

"He does things that I've never seen college guys do," Pinkel said. "He's very intelligent, but he also has great football intelligence and he can apply it.

"He could coach right now."

The only thing missing from the package is a few more inches in height for Daniel, who is 6-foot. Oregon State scouting reports say it's not a big minus.

"It's nice to be tall as a quarterback but it's not a prerequisite," Beavers coach Mike Riley said. "There are compensating factors when you're not 6-5 and he's got them, for sure.

"In that offense, he seems to be very confident, he gets rid of the ball to the right people on time, and then he's their second-leading rusher."

Daniel threw five touchdown passes in the opener against Murray State. Three times in Big 12 play he threw four touchdown passes.

Still, he knows there's plenty of room for improvement. During the Tigers' three-game losing streak near the end of the regular season he had more interceptions (5) than touchdown passes (3).

During a week off after a loss to Nebraska, at Pinkel's suggestion, he reviewed his season on tape in an attempt to fine-tune his skills. His discovery was that inconsistency in his footwork was to blame for the struggles.

"He thought it would be a good idea and so did I, so I just spent the week drilling myself, writing down every single play, watching it four or five times each and just on my drops," Daniel said. "Not where the balls went.

"I could start to tell that if I was short on my drops the ball was going high. If I was long, it was sailing on me."

Daniel helped stop the losing streak with four touchdown passes in a rout over Kansas in the regular-season finale. He accepts his share of the blame for Missouri's 2-2 record since a 6-0 start.

"We haven't overachieved and we could have done a lot better things," Daniel said. "I think everyone on the team will tell you that.

"We had some letdowns in the middle of the season, but what better way to finish it than with a win."

Daniel is one of 24 Texas players on the Missouri roster, many of them major contributors such as wide receiver Brad Ekwerekwu, safety David Overstreet, cornerback Domonique Johnson and defensive linemen Brian Smith and Stryker Sulak. The state has become fertile territory for the Tigers, and a nice showing against Oregon State could help in that regard.

"It's definitely great exposure," Daniel said. "Missouri has a huge fan base in Texas and we recruit Texas hard, so a win would mean a whole bunch.

"We've got to pull everything out. This is it."

It won't be easy. Missouri hasn't beaten a ranked team since 2003 and Oregon State has a pair of signature victories over then-No. 3 Southern California and then-No. 24 Hawaii.

"They look tough," Daniel said. "We all know their accolades and their players, so we have to be ready for everything they throw at us."