Gabbert helps Missouri beat UNR, stay unbeaten

RENO -- Blaine Gabbert is doing his best to make Missouri fans forget about Chase Daniel.

The sophomore quarterback passed for 414 yards and three touchdowns, including scoring tosses of 74 and 31 yards to Danario Alexander, while scrambling for his life much of Friday night to help undefeated Missouri beat UNR, 31-21.

"You look at him sometimes and say, 'How does he do it?' " Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "He finds people downfield.

"That's our team. The young guys have learned a lot from the guys ahead of them."

In four games this season, Gabbert has completed 66 percent of his passes (87 of 131) for 1,161 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions.

Alexander finished with nine catches for a career-high 170 yards, and Grant Resel made all four of his field-goal attempts to run his streak to 10-for-10 this season for the Tigers (4-0), who have won a school-record 14 consecutive nonconference games.

"When our defense and offense put it together, we're a pretty good team," Missouri linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said.

Luke Lippincott ran for 114 yards for the Wolf Pack (0-3), who took a 13-7 lead on the first series of the second half on Colin Kaepernick's 11-yard touchdown run and had a chance to regain the lead early in the fourth quarter before Lippincott fumbled on Missouri's 4.

The Tigers' last nonconference loss was in the 2006 Sun Bowl against Oregon State.

Gabbert completed 25 of 40 passes. He replaced Daniel, who led Missouri to two Big 12 championship game appearances and set school records with 12,515 career passing yards and 101 touchdown passes, as the Tigers' quarterback this season.