COLUMBIA, MO. — There were still 47 seconds left on the scoreboard when the football bounced harmlessly to the ground, and for one fleeting moment, Wes Kemp wanted to race back to the line of scrimmage, paw his toes into Faurot Field's artificial grass and take one last shot at finishing off a miraculous comeback.

"I thought there was time," he said. "I thought there was still some time."

His heart was racing as fast as ever, and Kemp was still desperately trying to find a way to make this awful afternoon turn out right. He wanted to run downfield one more time, look back into the blinding sun and see a Blaine Gabbert spiral descend out of the sky. He wanted the game to keep going, the clock to keep running and for someone in a black Mizzou jersey to find a way to be a highlight-reel hero.

But it never happened, and now Kemp stood empty-handed just outside the endzone with less than a minute to go in a game that Missouri never should have lost — heck, never should have come close to losing — and everything was all wrong.

The Baylor Bears, arguably the worst team in the Big 12, had just pulled off a 40-32 upset and their players were dancing and leaping and high-fiving each other like they'd just conquered the world. And for one confusing moment, Kemp didn't understand what was going on.

"I was thinking, 'Come on, keep going. ... We gotta keep going. ...'" he said.

But the Tigers had run out of downs, and the Missouri players stood around with those awful dazed looks on their faces. This wasn't like getting poleaxed by a college superpower such as Texas or Oklahoma. This wasn't even like getting ambushed by a Bowling Green team that was led by a rising star coach (Urban Meyer) or an underrated Troy team that was flat-out better than you.

This was a shocking and inexplicable defeat because it came against an unquestionably inferior team that came stumbling into Columbia on a four-game losing streak and hadn't scored more than 10 points in its first four conference games.

And they light you up for 40 points?

"I was sick to my stomach," Kemp said.

This was a defense that gave up 27 points and 347 yards to Mizzou in the first half, and all the Tigers could come up with were five points and 131 yards in the second half?

"It was against Baylor," said the graceful Danario Alexander, whose career-day of 13 catches for 214 yards and 1 TD went to waste. "And this was at home. This is a real tough loss. I'm in disbelief. It's a complete shock."

I can just imagine what the folks from Baylor are thinking when they read these quotes. But seriously now, let's come down off your high horse. Your team is not very good and you have to know that. You are what your record says you are, and the Bears' record said they were supposed to be the next victim on Missouri's second-half surge to the Big 12 North title.

For the first half, it certainly looked like that was going to happen, as sophomore quarterback Blaine Gabbert and the Tigers passing game ripped Baylor apart. Gabbert completed 11 of his first 12 passes in the first quarter, and by halftime he had 322 yards in the air on 21 of 27 passing, Alexander had 11 catches for 171 yards and an 84-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown, Kemp caught a toe-tapping 7-yard score with one second remaining in the half to give the Tigers a 27-16 lead.

This looked like the sort of game that would be over by midway through the third quarter. It was shaping up to be the sort of game that would allow all those kids who live deep down the MU depth charts to get into the game and earn a letter by the fourth quarter. It looked like the sort of game that would allow the Tigers to earn their bowl eligibility, continue to climb back into contention in this mediocre Northern division, and then move on to a showdown with first-place Kansas State next weekend.

But just like the lowly Bears, the Tigers are what their record says they are. And when you are only 5-4 overall and 1-4 and tied for last place in the Big 12 North in an obvious off-year for the conference, it proves that Mizzou doesn't have much to be crowing about either.

"Baylor deserved to win," a grim-faced Gary Pinkel said. "Bottom line is, the numbers prove themselves. We're just not executing. They were only scoring about 10 points a game in conference play. ... Not very good."

Pinkel's young team continues to wrestle with second-half lack of production. When you are playing with 11 freshmen or sophomores in the starting lineup, these are the growing pains that come with the process. They keep struggling at the wrong times, keep finding ways to lose instead of making the timely plays to win.

"One thing that is important when you have problems in this business from week to week is that you fix them," Pinkel said. "But as we came out in the second half, regardless of what we do in practice, regardless of what we're emphasizing, we're not doing enough in the second half to win football games. ... I'm in charge of that, obvious what we're doing isn't working. If you don't fix 'em, you're sitting right where we are."

Jared Perry suggested that the season has reached a crisis point, so much so that there will be a players-only meeting on Sunday to figure out an end to these second-half collapses. Pinkel said the coaches will keep working on it, too.

"We'll talk about it as a staff," he said. "But we're running out of time."