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Missouri outlasts Kansas State

Nov 13, 2010 - 10:59 PM Columbia, MO (Sports Network) - Blaine Gabbert threw for 208 yards with two touchdowns and ran for another score, as 20th-ranked Missouri outlasted Kansas State, 38-28, in Big 12 action.

Gabbert completed 17-of-25 passes and was intercepted once, and also rushed for 89 yards for Missouri (8-2, 4-2 Big 12), which had suffered losses at Nebraska and Texas Tech coming into the contest. T.J. Moe chipped in with five catches for 36 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the victory.

"Well they're always going to be a battle," Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel said. I'm really proud of our team. We lost a couple of ball games and a great test of any football team is how you battle through adversity. We would have liked to finish a little better than we did, but it's a story of turnovers and how they change football games. We got our eighth win of the season and we feel good about that."

Carson Coffman passed for 170 yards on 11-of-19 efficiency with one touchdown and an interception for Kansas State (6-4, 3-4), which was coming off a 39-14 win over Texas last week, but has dropped three of its last four.

Collin Klein completed 4-of-6 throws for 65 yards and one touchdown, and rushed for 141 yards for the Wildcats. Daniel Thomas added a pair of rushing scores, while Aubrey Quarles had nine grabs for 133 yards and a touchdown in defeat.

"I think the turnovers and one penalty that we had made the difference in the ball game," Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder said." If I did the math correctly, I think that the turnovers had a direct result of seventeen points, and seventeen points makes a big difference."

Missouri opened the scoring with 5:37 left in the first quarter, when Gabbert hit Moe for a 25-yard touchdown pass that capped a seven-play, 63-yard drive.

Thomas' one-yard scoring run up the middle early in the second tied the game at 7-7.

Gabbert's 32-yard touchdown run on the Tigers' next possession gave his squad a brief lead, but only before Kansas State went 84 yards on eight plays. Thomas finished the drive with a three-yard scoring run to even the contest.

The back-and-forth battle continued when Missouri answered with seven on its next chance with the ball. With the hosts starting on their own 34, they quickly moved to the KSU 45. Gabbert then hit Jerrell Jackson with a 20-yard pass, and after the Tigers picked up another first down, Jackson took a handoff, worked his way around left end and waltzed into the end zone. The score put the Tigers in front 21-14 with 4:12 remaining in the half.

It appeared the Wildcats were going to pull even heading into the half, but Coffman fumbled at the Missouri one-yard line in the final seconds and the Tigers recovered to take the lead into the locker room.

Neither side could get anything going offensively in the third and Missouri was able to strike for a defensive score with 5:34 left in the quarter. Aldon Smith's sack of Coffman forced the quarterback to fumble at the Missouri 46 and Jacquies Smith picked up the ball and ran it in for a 53-yard TD.

John Hubert fumbled on the first play of the ensuing drive, leading to a 33- yard field goal by Grant Ressel, giving Missouri a 31-14 advantage. The Tigers added a Gabbert-to-Moe four-yard scoring connection early in the fourth.

KSU answered when Klein hit Adrian Hilburn for a 35-yard score, and with the two-point conversion, the visitors made it 38-22 with just under seven minutes to play.

Coffman's 26-yard scoring pass to Quarles with 1:11 left cut the Wildcats' deficit to 10, but the two-point try failed. Missouri easily recovered the ensuing onside kick and held on from there.

Game Notes

Missouri visits Iowa State next Saturday, while Kansas State plays at Colorado...Missouri improved to 60-31-5 in the all-time series over Kansas State, which includes five straight wins over the Wildcats...Thomas finished with 66 yards rushing on 12 carries.