Insight Bowl, Two Plays To Remember: Blaine Gabbert's Interception, T.J. Moe's Non-Catch

The Missouri Tigers walk away from the 2010 Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona with a loss. Despite being three point favorites, Mizzou falls to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 27-24, and ends the season in disappointing fashion. There's a lot that Mizzou did right and a lot they did wrong but this game really came down to two plays -- Blaine Gabbert's second interception and T.J. Moe's non-catch.

Mizzou grabbed a 27-24 lead late in the third quarter and held onto that as we passed the six minute mark in the fourth quarter. Then Gabbert threw a pick that he'd like to have back. Iowa's Micah Hyde took a routine interception and turned it into a 72-yard return for a touchdown. Even if Iowa had simply picked it off without the return, Mizzou stands a good shot of winning this game. It was Gabbert's second interception of the game and both were costly.

That's what gave Iowa a 27-24 lead with 5:32 remaining in the game. Even at that point, I felt fairly confident Mizzou would win this game. Though they'd had trouble turning it into six. Blaine Gabbert and Co. had been moving the ball pretty well throughout the game.

So the Tigers get the ball back at their own 19 and begins a drive to tie or win the game. After nine plays, the clock still has a little over two minutes remaining and the Tigers face a fourth and six from the Iowa 43 yard line. Iowa pressured Gabbert on both third and fourth down but Gabbert seemingly completed his 16th pass to T.J. Moe near the sidelines. Replays showed Moe caught the ball and possibly juggled it as he slid across the ground and into the sidelines. Personally, I think it's tough to overturn the call in that case but that's what the referees did calling it a no-catch, giving Iowa the ball and eventually the game back.

After that, Iowa ran out the clock highlighted by a 39-yard third down pass to tight end Allen Reisner that took Iowa down to the one yard line and allowed them to run the clock out.

Here are replays of both plays:

So if you were looking for two plays that made a difference, that's it. There were other things that changed the game -- Iowa's Marcus Coker slowly but surely churning out over 200 yards rushing and Gabbert's first interception -- but the game really came down to those two plays.

With the way Mizzou's offense moved the ball you'd be surprised Iowa held the advantage in much of this game. Iowa was in control except for the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter when Mizzou took the lead.

What will give Mizzou fans a headache this morning is that the Tigers looked good for much of the night, moved the ball well, played overall solid defense.....and lost the game.