Columbia, Mo. ? The shelf life on enjoying success just got a lot shorter for Missouri.

Immediately after Saturday’s 45-22 victory over Texas A&M, attention turned to this week’s game at Kansas State. A victory in that game and another in the regular-season finale against Iowa State puts the Tigers (7-3 overall, 3-3 Big 12 Conference) in the conference-championship game.

That would represent a huge step forward for a program that has a winning record for only the third time in 20 years.

“We understand it’s going to be a very difficult game, but this is why you play,” coach Gary Pinkel said. “You want to be in November with opportunities, and we will have an opportunity.

“We’ll see what we can do with it.”

Kansas State (9-3, 5-2) is coming off a 38-9 victory over Nebraska. The 19th-ranked Wildcats also have dominated Missouri in recent years, winning 10 in a row in the series, and won, 38-0, last year in Columbia.

“They destroyed us a year ago, and they did a pretty good job the year before that, so we’ve not had too much success against them since I’ve been here,” Pinkel said. “It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

Missouri players believe they’re better equipped this year. Earlier in the season, the Tigers beat Nebraska for the first time in 25 years, and they rebounded from a five-point, four-turnover loss at Colorado last week with mistake-free play against Texas A&M (4-7, 2-5).

“We’re a completely different team,” offensive tackle Rob Droege said. “Last year I think people just kind of let it get away from them, and the focus wasn’t there.

“We just try not to look back on that kind of stuff. This year we know how to prepare, we’re on a roll, and we’re not the type of team that’s going to roll over.”

Missouri quarterback Brad Smith, right, holding football, celebrates with teammates Beau Viehmann (11) and Steven Sanchez (63) after scoring against Texas A&M. MU beat the Aggies, 45-22, Saturday in Columbia, Mo., giving the Tigers a boost in their quest to win the Big 12 Conference's North Division.

Pinkel was fussy as usual after Missouri’s 23-point victory, complaining about offensive mistakes and a defensive letdown that allowed Texas A&M to score two fourth-quarter touchdowns. He also took issue with the team’s intensity level.

As the game wore down, he insisted there was never a thought about working on plays for the future.

“No, no, no, I’m fighting for my life out there,” Pinkel said. “You just do what you do and get the game over with and make sure we’re OK injury-wise and enjoy it and not sleep at all and get up and get going.”

Still, Pinkel realizes Missouri has come a long way after going 4-7 and 5-7 his first two seasons.

“There’s so many things we need to do to become a better team,” Pinkel said. “But it’s a lot more fun correcting problems when you win.”

Behind a 313-yard passing game by Ell Roberson, Kansas State won at Nebraska for the first time in 35 years. The Wildcats have beaten Nebraska in consecutive years for the first time since 1958-59, although coach Bill Snyder wasn’t ready to say it was a changing of the guard in the Big 12 North.

“I don’t subscribe to that,” Snyder said. “Gosh, Colorado has won back-to-back division championships, and we haven’t won a division championship yet this year.

“All this gave us was the right to play for the divisional championship.”

Roberson said the game was a “defining moment” for him.

“Nebraska is a good team at home,” Roberson said. “This is something we wanted, to make up for an up and down season.”

Nebraska (8-3, 4-3) gave up 561 yards, 313 in the second half as Kansas State pulled away from a 7-all tie. Coach Frank Solich said things snowballed after the break.

“Once you get down and you have some big plays against you and you fail to make some big plays, the score separates,” Solich said. “Pretty soon you find yourself in a game with the number of turnovers we had in the second half and the number of big plays that they had, and we were taken out of it completely.”

The winner of the Kansas State-Missouri game has the unenviable task of taking on No. 1 Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game Dec. 6 in Kansas City.