In the fourth quarter of the Missouri-Illinois game on Saturday, suddenly Mizzou cornerback Carl Gettis was everywhere you looked.

First he made a spectacular one-handed interception of a pass by Illinois' Nathan Scheelhaase two plays after Missouri had taken the lead for the first time. When Mizzou had to punt after that possession, Gettis was there to down Matt Grabner's punt at the 1. That led to Illinois punting out of its own end zone, and Gettis returned the kick 15 yards to the Illinois 45, which set the table for a field goal that put Mizzou up 20-13.

All that happened in just about 3 minutes on the game clock.

"How about some big plays," coach Gary Pinkel said. "He made that interception and I thought Chase Coffman was out on the field. Talk about a guy performing well. It was great for us to see him respond like that; he took his game to another level, and that says an awful lot about him."

Gettis, who served as an honorary co-captain in his final game in his hometown, is a four-year starter, but he's also drawn some complaints from fans over those years for his tendency to get burned for big plays. On Saturday, the big plays were his.

"He's something," said receiver T.J. Moe, who like Gettis attended Fort Zumwalt West High. "He's had the best camp of his career. Carl could play receiver if he wanted to. He hasn't had many chances in his career, but if he gets his hand on the ball, he can catch it."

Gettis gave the credit for downing the punt to Grabner's placement of the kick, and agreed with just about everyone that his interception was his best play of the game. With Scheelhaase throwing down the right sideline as Illinois tried to get its offense going after falling behind, Gettis reached back and grabbed the ball with his trailing arm, a beautiful one-handed catch.

"I knew they were converting it to a fade route," Gettis said, "and at the last second I was able to get my hand up and it fell right in."

Gabbert rallies

It wasn't the Big 12 player of the week game he had a year ago in his collegiate starting debut, but MU quarterback Blaine Gabbert completed 34 of 48 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns to trigger MU's second-half comeback.

"We showed our guts. Everything didn't go our way today, and we responded positively," he said.

Gabbert had a few plays he'd like back, including his first-half fumble, a sack he took near the end of the half and his overthrow of an open Moe in the end zone with the chance to put away the game in the fourth quarter.

Tiger Tales

Led by De'Vion Moore's 78 yards, MU's three tailbacks combined for 108 yards on 24 carries. That included one for 10 yards by freshman Henry Josey and seven for 20 by sophomore Kendial Lawrence, who left the game with a stinger but later returned. ... MU used four defensive ends in third and long situations; Aldon Smith led the Tigers with 10 tackles, including two sacks. ... Some key numbers: MU converted six of 11 third downs in the second half; MU hurt itself with penalties, seven for 80 yards, but had 4-1 advantage in turnovers; 20-point second half was more than MU had in second half of six games combined last year (14). ... Pinkel on broader meaning of the game: "There are a lot of little things that we need to get better at, but we have the makings of a good football team — as long as we improve."