During his press conference Sunday, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel frequently put his hands on the lectern about a foot apart, as if describing a small rock bass he caught in the Lake of the Ozarks or demonstrating how the umpires in Australian Rules Football signal a goal.

But he’s really talking about the mental and emotional “zone” he likes his quarterbacks to reside in, whether they throw four touchdowns or four interceptions.

Pinkel said his latest prodigy, sophomore Blaine Gabbert, is skilled at staying inside that zone. Whether it was his astonishingly good first start in the “Braggin Rights” game vs. Illinois, or a crucial second half comeback at home vs. Bowling Green, the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder is a tough kid to rattle.

"I'm impressed with his poise,” Pinkel said. “He's kind of trying to find where he fits himself in a game, mentally, where he keeps focused…one important thing for quarterbacks is to stay in a place where you can function, where you don't get caught up in the hype or the negative of what's going on and you kind of stay in the zone. Whether you get sacked, or throw a touchdown or an interception, you come right back in this zone. I've been impressed with him.”

The numbers make those intangibles look like a shabby coat. Gabbert’s thrown for 1,161 yards and 11 touchdowns in four games. Nary a pick. Thus far, he’s been at his best in the second half, where he leads the nation in passing efficiency – 33-of-43, 547 yards and six touchdowns.

Pinkel shrugs off those numbers a little bit.

“He's only played four football games,” he said. Against Nevada, Furman, Illinois and Bowling Green at that.

But Gabbert had the advantage of one year behind former starter Chase Daniel, whom Pinkel referred to frequently during Sunday’s press conference, labeling him “a battlefield commander.” Getting to watch Daniel run and operate the offense, Pinkel said, helped Gabbert to hit the ground running in 2009. Another Mizzou standout, Brad Smith, didn’t get that chance. He and Pinkel were learning the life of the spread offense together, on the fly.

Several years later, the Tigers’ passing game seemingly works to a metronome. Receivers know their spots, taking the short, choppy steps on bubble and tunnel screens necessary to set up blocking before accelerating, 0 to 60, with impressive speed. Gabbert, positioned in a deep shotgun, gets the snap and is ready to fire to them immediately.

"When we get going and when our tempo is up, everything is pretty much clicking,” Gabbert said. “That's when our offense really rolls.”

He’s taller than Daniel, and can see receivers Daniel could not. Graced with a bigger arm, Gabbert is able to manufacture long passing plays – he threw several howitzers at Nevada – outside of the offense’s framework. He’s burly, too, which allows him to throw the ball under duress with more velocity and accuracy. For all their talents, Daniel and Kansas’ Todd Reesing are forced to skitter about, inviting a risk-reward proposition that tilts toward the lesser choice against better defenses.

Count Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini as impressed. He complimented Gabbert more than once during his Monday press conference. They weren’t expansive compliments – Pelini prefers the “good football player” line – but he went out of his way to suggest that no matter Gabbert’s performance Thursday – if it were, say, ugly – it wouldn’t change that Gabbert can play.

Pelini never bothered to say that about Daniel.

Indeed, the one element Nebraska and Missouri fans can agree on before this game is that Gabbert’s a keeper. NU players are friends with him. He’s impressed the pants off of the Kansas City and St. Louis media, for good reason, without giving off Daniel’s almost aggressive charm.

“We all know what Chase was like, he was wired all the time,” Pinkel said. “…He was just electric out there all the time. Blaine doesn't have to be like that, he doesn't have to be like Brad Smith.”

He might be better than either one of them.

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