COLUMBIA, MO. — At the end of this nightmarish evening that had washed nothing but bad news on you from Los Angeles to Scottrade Center down to the soggy quagmire of Faurot Field, there were all these soaked and stunned spectators in their gold ponchos trying to figure out what had just gone wrong.

Nebraska 27, Mizzou 12.

Huh? How could that have happened?

At halftime, it looked like Mizzou couldn't possibly lose.

But they thought that in LA, too, didn't they?

The Tigers went running off the field with a daring last-second touchdown in their pocket, and a 9-0 lead that looked like it might hold up for an eternity the way Nebraska was slogging around so ineffectively in this all-night downpour.

But in one inexplicable blur early in the fourth quarter, the agony that began in LA with the Cards losing to the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth managed to work its way all the way to Columbia to stab you in your heart just one more cruel time.

Interception by Blaine Gabbert.

Touchdown pass Nebraska.

Interception Gabbert.

Touchdown pass Nebraska.

Whoa, didn't see that coming. From 12-0 Mizzou to 20-12 Nebraska in the blink of a rain-soaked eye. And as the fourth quarter wound down, there would be no more miracles for Mizzou. Gabbert ended his night not with a gallop into the end zone or with a memorable comeback drive down the field. Instead, it was one incomplete pass after another, with the big fellow running for his life, trying to make something impossible happen as he hobbled around on a twisted ankle that made him suddenly seem rather ordinary (17 of 43, 134 yards, 0 touchdowns, two interceptions; nine rushes, 2 yards, one fumble).

He couldn't run, and he struggled with every throw. So now we know that young Mr. Gabbert really doesn't walk on water. It doesn't mean he still won't turn out to be one heck of a college quarterback. It just means that the kid still has a lot more to learn before all those breathless dreams about his limitless potential will be fulfilled.

Maybe it was because he was working on that bad ankle, or maybe it was because he simply ran into his first big-time, stout college defense. But this was not the same Blaine Gabbert we saw through his first four games where he looked like Missouri's new miracle man. The kid with the cannon arm fell back to reality with the first harsh lesson of his college football life.

At halftime, it appeared he was going to be the rugged hero of the night, hobbling but still finding a way to will his team to victory. But the night didn't end in storybook fashion. It instead turned into an ugly nightmare. Gabbert struggled to complete the same passes he had so easily zipped all over the field in non-conference play. He flirted with disaster all night, trying to throw balls into dangerous places because that's what strong-armed quarterbacks do. The guys with these rare cannon arms always believe they can do that — until they get burned. And Gabbert got burned badly by Nebraska's athletic and aggressive defenders. Defensive linemen were in his face, leaping up to snatch the ball out of the air.

But even with the bad ankle and the second-half struggles, you never stopped thinking that maybe he could somehow find a way to turn things around.

He was hobbling in the first half, too, but he still made the biggest play of the half. Never in a million years did you see this coming. It was fourth and goal on the 1-yard line with only two seconds left, and you knew what was coming next from a head coach whose offense might be a wide-open attack, but whose soul is still stubbornly conservative.

Mizzou was going to kick a field goal, right?

But now there was Gabbert in the shotgun, pawing the ground with that injured leg, waiting for the snap.

A year ago, when the Tigers were in a similar situation against Oklahoma State, Pinkel probably should have gone for the TD but instead went conservative on us, settled for a field goal that ultimately cost the Tigers the ballgame, and it may have been the beginning of the end of a season that began so full of national championship promise but ended with a disappointing thud.

But now, in the Big 12 North showdown against the 21st-ranked Huskers, Pinkel sent the offense back out there to the roar of the thrilled soldout crowd.

Gabbert shoved the ball into Derek Washington's gut, sucked the Nebraska defense in, then pulled it out, tucked it into his gut and lunged for the goal line.

Touchdown Mizzou.

And it got you thinking about how that Oklahoma State moment was the milepost for the decline and fall of 2008, that maybe you might want to remember the sight of Gabbert diving into the end zone as the moment that changed everything in the '09 season.

And maybe it still will. Maybe this game will be the harsh lesson that Gabbert needs. Maybe he will build off the disappointment and learn from the failure. You can only hope. But you have to know he can do a lot better than this.