Postgame: Mizzou 38, K-State 12

Kansas State had no answer for Danario Alexander, couldn't get its running game going and fell victim to the mistakes it has been so good about avoiding all season.

For those reasons, the Missouri Tigers easily defeated the Wildcats 38-12. There's not much more to be analyzed from yesterday's game.

K-State players said they had already moved on from it in the interview room afterward. With a winner-take-all battle in Lincoln up next there isn't anywhere to look but forward.

If the Wildcats win their season-finale at Nebraska, they win the Big 12 North and qualify for a bowl game. If they lose to the Cornhuskers, their season is finished.

Fortunately for K-State, Nebraska is the type of team it has had success against this year.

Teams like Missouri, Texas Tech and Oklahoma (who can score quickly with high-powered pass plays) are not good match-ups for the Wildcats. But Nebraska, and its 17.5 points per game in Big 12 play, is.

The biggest obstacle for K-State to overcome could be playing on the road. The Wildcats managed to beat Iowa State in Arrowhead Stadium earlier this year, but are yet to win a true road game.

With so much on the line, it will be difficult for them to end that trend in front of a hostile crowd in Lincoln. But they played extremely well throughout the second half at Oklahoma. If not for an awful first quarter, they easily could have pulled an upset on the Sooners.

They played UCLA tough in the Rose Bowl, too. And that was before Grant Gregory added a passing element to this offense.

The Cornhuskers will be favorites in the game, and deserve to be. But with a better start against Nebraska the game should be close throughout.

Not allowing a Cornhuskers receiver to go for 200 yards would help as well. But as pointed out earlier, that won't be a problem in this game.

Against Nebraska, K-State will have to worry more about All-World defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

That and scoring more touchdowns than field goals.

Key Stats
200 yards receiving by Danario Alexander
3 touchdowns for Danario Alexander
298 passing yards by Blaine Gabbert
123 receiving yards by Brandon Banks
239 passing yards by Grant Gregory
79 rushing yards by Daniel Thomas
23 rushing attempts by Daniel Thomas
4 field goals attempted by Josh Cherry
4 field goals made by Josh Cherry
9 more field goals needed from Josh Cherry to win the game

Quotes of note:
"I don't know what really happened to us to tell you truth. We weren't in sync, we weren't making plays we were supposed to make. We had opportunites we didn't take advantage of," -- Lamark Brown.

"We fought. We made some mistakes -- a lot of mistakes actually" -- Emmanuel Lamur.

"We didn't execute, they made good stops and we had to settle for field goals. Josh did a good job kicking field goals but can't get down there five times and come away with 12 points." -- Grant Gregory.

"I told the football team they're the luckiest group of 120 guys that exist in the Big 12 conference. To go out and get it handed to you like you did today and still have an opportunity to win a North division title and still have the opportunity to go to a bowl game." -- Bill Snyder.

"I don't think Grant has thrown too many interceptions this year. I don't think we've turned the ball over that much this year. For things like that to happen, that's very unusual." -- Brandon Banks.