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Daniel sets school passing record as Missouri romps Nevada

Sep 13, 2008 - 10:12 PM COLUMBIA, Missouri (Ticker) -- The rain did not dampen Chase Daniel's Heisman Trophy chances.

Playing on a wet field with an on-and-off drizzle, Daniel tossed four touchdowns and set a new school record for career passing yards Saturday as sixth-ranked Missouri cruised to a 69-17 triumph over Nevada.

Daniel entered the contest just 52 yards shy of former Tigers quarterback Brad Smith's mark and it did not take him long to establish a new record.

"(Daniel) has got my vote for being a great, great quarterback and certainly has raised the bar to the highest level," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said.

Daniel connected with Jeremy Maclin on an 80-yard touchdown strike less than three minutes into the game for the record-setting pass, which gave Missouri a 14-0 lead.

"It means a lot. That's a big, big thing for me," Daniel said of becoming the Tigers' all-time passing leader. "I'm very honored to be able to do it, there's been a lot of very good quarterbacks that have played here. I'm very honored to be in that class of quarterbacks and hopefully still have a long way to go."

"I'm not a big record guy, I just like to win," Pinkel added. "I'm happy for our players, but honestly, that's stuff you look at after the season and feel pretty good about that."

A Heisman finalist last season, Daniel completed 23-of-28 passes for 405 yards and led the Tigers to scores on each of their first eight drives.

"It is a compliment to Missouri's great offense, and Chase Daniel is just excellent," Wolf Pack coach Chris Ault said. "But really as a whole, our defense was never in the game."

"I just want to start by saying we're 3-0," Daniel said. "It's another win and we're excited about that. We worked like Coach Pinkel said, hard all week; hard since January week-in-and-week-out."

Maclin made an incredible leaping catch at the back of the end zone as he was barely able to get a foot down while being hammered by a defender for a 14-yard score with 91 seconds left in the first half.

Colin Kaepernick threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Marko Mitchell as time expired in the half, cutting Nevada's deficit to 38-17 at the break.

Maclin hauled in six receptions for 172 yards and three touchdowns and Jered Perry added six for 98 and a score for the Tigers (3-0), who racked up 651 yards of total offense.

"I'm doing everything I can to get Chase to New York," Maclin said. "That guy deserves it. He's the best quarterback in the country by far."

Derrick Washington rushed for 75 yards and two TDs and tight end Chase Coffman made six catches for 127 yards and scored on a fake field goal for Missouri, which has scored 173 points over its first three contests this season.

"We've done a great job preparing for these other teams," Coffman said. "Now we've just got to keep doing it, keep preparing, keep watching film, keep working hard during practice."

Kaepernick passed for 152 yards and a touchdown and added 71 yards and a score on the ground for the Wolf Pack (1-2), who compiled 362 total yards.