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Sporting News, The, Dec 6, 2004 by Matt Hayes

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Missouri coach Gary Pinkel has taken heat for"forcing" QB Brad Smith to be more of a pocket passer. The reality is, both Pinkel and Smith agreed in the offseason that Smith needed to develop more consistency as a pocket passer as a natural progression toward the NFL. Though Smith's passer rating dropped only 3.4 points (114.1 to 110.7) from last season, his completion rate dropped from 60.3 percent to 51.8 percent. Much of Smith's struggles can be traced to an underachieving offensive line that struggled in pass protection.

HAYES' 6 PICKS

Virginia Tech 27, Miami 20. The Hokies' power running game and stingy defense are just enough--if quarterback Bryan Randall can protect the ball.

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USC 40, UCLA 20. Paging Mr. Matt Leinart: your bronze trophy is ready for pickup in New York City. Please see Carson Palmer for directions.

Oklahoma 33, Colorado 14. With the title game in sight, OU gets a big game from Jason White and won't blow the Big 12 championship again.

California 35, Southern Miss 17. If only the Bears had beaten USC, we'd have a different No. 1 and Cat's first Heisman winner in Aaron Rodgers.

Auburn 23, Tennessee 21. An inspired Vols team forces Auburn to win ugly--and lose beauty points in the race for the Orange Bowl.

Navy 19, Army 17. Army is buying into coach Bobby Ross' philosophy, but Navy has just enough with quarterback Aaron Polanco and fullback Kyle Eckel.

speed reads

As the mess at Ohio State continues to unfold, there has to be a scapegoat. If the choice is between A.D. Andy Geiger and coach Jim Tressel, Geiger will get the ax. Tressel, after all, is 3-1 against Michigan--which is what really matters for a program long-known for its "creative" ways of enabling athletes.

Note to Washington A.D. Todd Turner: Hire Mike Price. He has a proven track record in the Pac-]O and knows a little about reclaiming a reputation. There still would be a nice chunk of change left to pay off Rick Neuheisel.

When Notre Dame hired Tyrone Willingham as its coach three years ago, university bigwigs spoke of Willingham's integrity. I'll take integrity and a guy who knows how to win games-say, Harvard's Tim Murphy. Instead of stumbling through another 6-5 season next year, cut bait, hire Murphy and begin the healing.

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Sporting News, The, Dec 6, 2004 by Matt Hayes

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