Watch highlights from Nebraska's 27-12 win

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert shouldered the blame for the Tigers' fourth-quarter collapse in Thursday's 27-12 loss to Nebraska.

Gabbert threw his first two interceptions of the season to help fuel the Huskers' rally. Nebraska scored the go-ahead touchdown two plays after Gabbert's first interception, and then took a 20-12 lead three plays after his second.

“My two turnovers were huge plays that gave them 14 points,'' Gabbert said. “That can't happen.''

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel didn't disagree. But Pinkel pointed to squandered opportunities earlier in the game that contributed to the loss, the Tigers' first in three games against the Huskers.

“You're going to look at some plays and a couple of turnovers in the fourth quarter, and those plays were critical,'' Pinkel said. “But I would suggest that there were a lot of other opportunities in those first three quarters.

“If we would have done a little bit better job of executing there on both sides of the football, then possibly it wouldn't have gotten like it did there in the fourth.''

Gabbert, the sophomore who originally committed to Nebraska before changing his mind, helped Missouri take a hard-fought 12-0 lead through three quarters. He scored the Tigers' only touchdown on the final play of the first half, then directed a short scoring drive that led to Grant Ressel's 33-yard field goal with 2:16 left in the third period.

Through three quarters, Missouri's defense held Nebraska to 30 yards rushing and 79 yards passing. Three plays into the final period, Nebraska's Zac Lee stung the Tigers with a 56-yard scoring pass to Niles Paul on a third-and-8 play.

Gabbert's first interception, on the first play following Nebraska's score, gave the Huskers the football at the Missouri 18. Four plays after Nebraska took the lead, Dejon Gomes picked off Gabbert's sideline pass and returned it 40 yards to the Tigers' 10.

“For three quarters, against a very good offensive football team, our defense played outstanding,'' Pinkel said. “We needed to play a little better in situations we call sudden-change. We have to learn how to handle that sudden-change, that adversity.

“I think we're capable of handling it better, but it does put a lot on the defense. We did a lot of good things defensively, but offensively, I don't know if we ever got untracked.''

Missouri finished with 225 yards on its 78 offensive plays. The Tigers managed just 91 yards rushing, while Gabbert completed 17 of 43 passes for 134 yards.

He completed as many passes to Huskers in the final 15 minutes as he did to his teammates.

“The game changes fast,'' Gabbert said. “We didn't win, and we have to learn from that. We need to take all the positives we can out of it and learn from the negatives.”

Gabbert's teammates said he shouldn't blame himself for what transpired in the final 15 minutes.

“We love the fourth quarter, but tonight we didn't do anything to help ourselves,'' Missouri defender Andrew Gachkar said. “For three quarters, we were on cloud nine.

“Guys were playing their hearts out, but we just didn't finish.''

Pinkel agreed.

“Nebraska did things right to finish that game, and you have to give them credit,” he said. “We were playing such a good football game, and we were doing all the right things going into the fourth quarter.

“We're winning around here more because we've become better at finishing in the fourth quarter. We can't make errors like we did in the final quarter. I don't care who you're playing.''

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

• Watch Nebraska coach Bo Pelini at the postgame press conference: