In the Big 12, the best way to show major progress from one week to the next is to follow up your game with Texas with one against Colorado. A team can't help but look better in that situation.

And the best way to win two games in a row in the Big 12 is to play Colorado one week and Baylor the next.

That's where Mizzou finds itself, riding high on a relatively easy win over Colorado, but not entirely sure if it's a good team that's finally doing what it's supposed to or a flawed team that took advantage of the worst team in the league. Now the Tigers get Baylor, which at 3-5 overall and 0-4 in league play, might be having more troubles than the Buffs in an injury-marred season. A win is essential for the Tigers (5-3, 1-3) as they rise from the scrap heap of the Big 12 North, but it won't do much to answer the question of how good the team is. In any case, the way this season is going for Mizzou, it would behoove the Tigers to figure they've got a lot of work left to do.

"With the season we've had, it's something we have to be careful of," center Tim Barnes said of the Tigers feeling they've solved their problems. "We have to make sure we handle it right and don't fall into a lackadaisical state. I don't foresee it being a problem because in those three weeks, the overall morale of the team (was low). I don't think it's something anyone's going to forget any time soon."

Thanks to the general mediocrity that pervades the Big 12 North, where the division champ will almost certainly have three losses, and maybe four, Mizzou at 1-3 finds itself in the thick of the race and not even needing much help to get to the Big 12 championship game again. If Mizzou wins out, all it needs is for Nebraska to lose twice. The Huskers face Oklahoma tonight, and if the 24th-ranked Sooners win there, all that's left is for Kansas, Kansas State or the real long shot, Colorado, to beat Nebraska. As parlays go, it's not the most far-fetched, especially considering Mizzou's remaining opponents are 6-12 in Big 12 play.

Of course, there's little in Mizzou's recent play to make four more wins seem a gimme. Mizzou ran up a big lead on Colorado and then waited for the clock to run out, scoring just three points in the second half. In conference play, the team has six second-half points.

"Nothing has changed," coach Gary Pinkel said. "I told our players, if you think everything is going good now, it's not. If you want to establish our goals, it's going to get tougher. I guarantee you that. We have to get better. It's exciting, but you have to take care of business. A lot of opportunities are gone."

While a win today would make Mizzou-bowl eligible for a school-record fifth straight season, any significant postseason payoff will probably require Mizzou to run the table. Parallels have been drawn to the 2007 season, when Mizzou lost to Oklahoma in its sixth game and then won its final six to get to a No. 1 ranking and the Big 12 title game.

"It's the same lessons as two years ago," Barnes said. "Coach Pinkel did bring it up to us, that it did happen a couple years ago. We can do it. We have to come together and play consistent."