A spirited first half rally to erase a 21-3 deficit was not enough for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as quarterback Brad Smith and the Missouri Tigers buried the Huskers in the second half to claim a 41-24 victory.

Smith and company amassed 480 yards of total offense, with Smith himself accounting for 246 yards rushing and 234 yards throwing. The Tigers move to the top of the Big 12 North Division standings at 3-1 in the league and 5-2 overall. Nebraska slipped to 5-2 on the season, including a 2-2 mark in conference play.

After falling behind 21-3 early in the second period, Nebraska used big plays by the offense, defense and special teams to fight back to tie the game 24-24 by halftime. Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor threw a pair of touchdown passes, while Daniel Bullocks blocked and recovered a punt to set up a Cody Glenn one-yard touchdown run. Barry Turner added a sack and forced a fumble by Smith that was recovered by Jay Moore to set up the tying score by Nate Swift for the Huskers in the second quarter.

Nebraska seemed to hold the momentum early in the third quarter as well, but after seemingly converting a key fourth-down-and-two situation from the Tiger 33, Terrence was stripped of the ball inside the 10-yard line and Missouri recovered at the three.

“That to me was probably the most critical part of the game,” said Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel. “The offense then went the length of the field and that was huge because they had stifled us in the second and third quarters. “

Smith took control from there, guiding the Tigers on a 97 yard scoring drive, including a 45-yard touchdown run by Smith. The Tigers grabbed the momentum along with a 31-24 lead with 2:38 left in the third quarter.

Nebraska was unable to provide any meaningful threat from there on. Smith guided Missouri on two more scoring drives, including a 31-yard field goal by Adam Crossett and a 14-yard scoring run by Tony Temple, to seal the victory.

Missouri scored on its first four possessions of the game when Smith found Tommy Smith for a 15-yard touchdown pass just 2:09 into the game. The Tigers' first score was set up by a 50-yard pass play from Smith to Brad Ekwerekwu on the Tigers’ second play of the game.

Smith marched the Tigers down the field again on their next drive by calling his own number on a four-yard TD run. He made the score possible with a 53-yard jaunt earlier in the drive. Midway through the first period the Tigers were already up 14-0.

Nebraska finally got on the board with a 32-yard Jordan Congdon field goal to cut the lead to 14-3 with 4:29 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers pounced right back when Smith took the next snap 79-yards for a touchdown. To widen the margin to 21-3 with 4:13 left in the opening stanza.

"It was a called play, it was kind of a sneak because we didn't see anybody in the middle and we took advantage of that," Smith said.

Nebraska showed their toughness by driving right back with a four-play, 73-yard scoring drive. Freshman walk-on receiver Todd Peterson made a fingertip grab of a 34-yard Taylor toss to record the Huskers’ first touchdown of the game. The first-half shootout continued as Missouri added a field goal to re-establish their two touchdown margin early in the second period. But the Husker Blackshirt defense was able to quiet the Tigers for the remainder of the half.

Nebraska’s special teams provided a much needed spark when senior strong safety Daniel Bullocks blocked a Missouri punt and recovered it himself at the Tiger 1. Freshman running back Cody Glenn scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge one play later to cut Missouri's lead to 24-17 with 4:49 left in the half.

After swapping punts with the Tigers on the next drives, Nebraska’s defense came up with another big Defensive end Barry Turner sacked Smith for a nine-yard loss and forced a fumble that was scooped up by defensive end Jay Moore and returned 17 yards to the Missouri 8. Taylor connected with wide receiver Nate Swift two plays later on an eight-yard touchdown pass to knot the score at 24 with 2:07 left in the half.

Taylor finished the day completing 22-of-43 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns with a pair of interceptions. Nate Swift led all Husker receivers with nine catches for 135 yards and a touchdown. For only the second time in school history the Huskers finished with negative yardage rushing. The ran the ball just 19 times, including four sacks of Taylor, for minus-2 yards. The only other time the Huskers ran for negative yardage was their minus-seventeen yard performance against Oklahoma in 1951.