One thing appears clear, at least, in the Big 12 Conference picture:

The South Division champion will probably have “Oklahoma” in its name.

Top-ranked Oklahoma continued its roll through the 2003 season by beating Missouri, 34-13, Saturday night, a week after the Tigers beat then-No. 10 Nebraska.

“They showed that they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” Missouri quarterback Brad Smith said.

No. 18 Oklahoma State, meanwhile, won a frantic 51-49 shootout against Texas Tech — a game in which the two teams combined for 1,334 total yards.

“We understood that this would be a four-quarter game,” Oklahoma State coach Les Miles said. “The clock just doesn’t seem to run when you play Texas Tech.”

Barring a collapse by either team, Oklahoma State’s sixth straight victory makes the Bedlam Game Nov. 1 the de facto South championship game — even with No. 20 Texas still ahead on the Cowboys’ schedule.

The Longhorns are still tied for second with Oklahoma State at 2-1 in Big 12 play, after beating Iowa State 40-19. But even if Texas wins out and Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma for a third straight year, the Sooners would win the South on the strength of their 65-13 rout of the Longhorns a week ago.

Now just try to handicap the race in the North, where only Iowa State (2-5, 0-3 Big 12) is clearly overmatched by the other teams in the division. So far this year, 20 Cyclones players have missed playing time because of injuries.

“It’s been one of those seasons,” coach Dan McCarney said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Frankly, it feels like we’re going out there in a backyard brawl or a shootout and we’ve got water guns with some of the guys we’re missing.”

Kansas State, which finally broke into the Big 12 win column by beating Colorado, 49-20, Saturday, can reach the title game by running the table.

So can Kansas University, which beat Baylor 28-21, or No. 14 Nebraska, a 48-12 winner over Texas A&M. The two share the division lead with 2-1 records in Big 12 play.

Colorado — the defending conference champion — and Missouri would need a little help. Make that a lot of help for the Buffaloes, who have given up 40-plus points in five straight games and still have to play Oklahoma and Nebraska.

“I really haven’t been in this position before,” said wide receiver-kick returner Jeremy Bloom, who ran a kickoff back 88 yards for a touchdown. “The first thing Coach (Gary Barnett) said to us when we went into the locker room was, ‘Keep your head up,’ and that’s what we’ve got to do.”

So if the Wildcats earn their 11th straight victory over Kansas this weekend, but the Jayhawks break a 34-game losing streak to Nebraska Nov. 8, but the Huskers continue to dominate Kansas State at home when the Wildcats visit Lincoln on Nov. 15, and the Tigers and Buffaloes catch a few breaks …

Confused yet? Imagine how the coaches in the division feel.

“You could have a situation where a 4-4 (conference) record would win you the division,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder.

At least the Wildcats still have a chance to live up to their status as preseason favorites in the North. They came into the Colorado game on a three-game losing streak that dropped them from No. 6 in late September to being unranked in the Associated Press poll.

“It’s a feeling not of relief, but just knowing that this is our team and we can do this,” defensive end Andrew Shull said.

Then again, Nebraska linebacker Barrett Ruud said, every team in the conference had a shot at playing spoiler to an upper-echelon foe.

“There are no breaks anymore,” Ruud said. “You see teams like Kansas and Baylor, they’re good teams. You have to show up every week.”

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No consequences: After intercepting Dustin Long’s pass from the end zone at the 3-yard line and returning it for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Nebraska defensive end Titus Adams entertained the Memorial Stadium crowd with a thunderous spiking of the ball.

Under team rules, such hot-dogging is punishable by extra running and push-ups at 6 a.m. Monday.

In the locker room after the game, Cornhuskers coach Frank Solich held a team vote to decide whether Adams should face the consequences. The result was a unanimous “no.”

Adams says he and other defenders usually can only dream of scoring, and talk among themselves about how they would celebrate if their time comes.

“If I can score another one, I’ll have something new for you,” Adams said.

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Running to win: Even though Texas let wideout Roy Williams throw his first career pass — a 56-yard completion to B.J. Johnson that set up a touchdown — the Longhorns might want to think less about throwing the ball and more about running it.

Texas, which outrushed Iowa State 235-105, is now 23-0 under Brown when it rushes for more than 200 yards and 43-0 when it outrushes the opponent.