Print edition: 
MANHATTAN — The message coming from Kansas State after Saturday's disheartening 38-12 loss to Missouri is this: Win at Nebraska next week and you win the Big 12 North and are headed to a bowl game after a 7-5 regular season.
It's a message of hope, optimism and reality.
Yet, cloaked as it is in such a weird Big 12 season, and coming after such a one-sided loss to a Mizzou team that lost at home to Baylor last week, for crying out loud, it's difficult to gauge hope, optimism or reality at this point.
The Big 12, and especially the North Division, is a crying-out-loud group of teams this season. Outside of Texas, which team hasn't had its share of tearful moments?
Just when it appeared K-State had risen above the wailing masses, the Wildcats sent their fans away with red eyes and a blue disposition.
What happened?
K-State, coming off a win over rival Kansas last week, appeared to be a clear favorite over the Tigers despite what the oddsmakers, who had the game almost even, said.
Bill Snyder doesn't lose to Missouri, you know. K-State hadn't lost at home this season. And did I mention the Tigers lost at home to weak-sister Baylor last week?
Yet Saturday's game was a Mizzou mismatch. There will be some who believe that if K- State's Brandon Banks hadn't fumbled the football through the end zone early in the second quarter after catching a pass from Grant Gregory, that the outcome would have been different.
If K-State scores a touchdown there, the Wildcats lead 10-3. As it was, the Tigers got the ball at their own 20-yard line after the touchback and drove 80 yards to take their own 10-3 lead.
Turning point, yes.
Deciding point, not so sure.
Missouri was dominant in a way the final numbers don't do justice. For instance, K-State had 21 first downs to the Tigers' 19. K-State had the ball for 38 minutes, 19 seconds to Missouri's 21:41.
Missouri, though, had the best players.
Quarterback Blaine Gabbert completed 20 of 27 passes for 298 yards and three touchdowns. It looked like his right arm was equipped with a scope.
His favorite target was senior Danario Alexander, who caught all three of Gabbert's TD strikes for 54, 16 and 80 yards.
The 54- and 80-yard touchdown receptions were the most impressive. On the first, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Alexander reached over K-State defensive back Tysyn Hartman to take away the football and stormed into the end zone for Missouri's 10-3 lead.
The 80-yard strike, which gave Missouri a 24-12 lead late in the third quarter, looked like a bolt of lightning. Alexander, the first Tigers receiver with back-to-back 200-yard receiving games (he had 214 on 13 catches against Baylor) caught Gabbert's pass near midfield, stepped free from a tackler and burned down the left sideline in a turbo-charged, 1966 Mustang. At least that's how it looked as K-State defenders waved goodbye while sucking up dust.
Alexander's 16-yard touchdown reception was the most mundane, but also the most damaging. It came with 20 seconds remaining in the first half and gave Missouri a 17-6 halftime advantage.
Missouri scored five touchdowns. When the Tigers reached the red zone, they didn't stop.
K-State took the whole red-zone thing literally, stopping on a dime once it reached that territory and settling for four field goals. The Wildcats' futility was topped off by a particularly humiliating failure to score a touchdown on their final possession, after anything mattered, when they were stopped four times after reaching the Missouri 2-yard line.
K-State coach Bill Snyder, who knew his team's status atop the Big 12 North was precarious, , nonetheless was disappointed with how the Wildcats handled such prosperity.
Perhaps, he admitted, there was a collective letdown after last week's big victory. It's possible, he agreed, that the players were putting so much focus on next week's game at Nebraska that they skipped right past Missouri.
He didn't endorse such an attitude, mind you, but acknowledged it might have existed for some.
The best thing for K-State is that there is no time, nor need, to dwell on the loss to Missouri. The big prize is still on the line with a must-win game at Nebraska.
"It's good because we have another opportunity to reach our goal,'' Banks said. "Hopefully, we can bounce back.''
Don't bet against it. In this crazy Big 12 North, you'd be foolish to bet against, or on, anything.
"I told our team that they are the luckiest bunch of guys in the Big 12,'' Snyder said. "To go out and get it handed to you like we did today and still have the opportunity to win a North division title and possibly play in a bowl game — most teams can't play and coach the way we did today and control their own destiny.''
It might look hopeless, K-Staters, but it's not. Sure, a win against Missouri would have made the Wildcats eligible for a bowl game. But the loss doesn't knock them out of the Big 12 North race, which is a race in name only. Doesn't a race involve forward movement?
Instead, the winner of the North looks to be the team that takes the most steps forward with the fewest steps back.
It's enough to make you sob.
