"It's just one big ball of frustration," Pinkel said. "It's not a great feeling. It's not fun losing and our fans have a better expectation level than what they're seeing."

After an impressive win over University of Colorado on Oct. 31, Missouri (5-4, 1-4 Big 12) was a 14-point favorite to beat Baylor. Instead, Missouri blew an 11-point halftime lead and lost 40-32. For the Bears, it was just the third win in their last 55 Big 12 road games and the first in Columbia since 1972.

"I was just shocked," senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. "So shocked."

The loss knocked Missouri out of the running for its third straight Big 12 North title, a goal that both players and fans had considered achievable despite losing the first three conference games. The hardest part of the schedule is over, with only games at Kansas State University on Saturday, a home game against Iowa State University and a game against rival University of Kansas in Kansas City remaining.

Now, the Tigers have to focus on winning at least one of the remaining games to become bowl-eligible.

"Obviously, the goal now is to finish out the season winning," center Tim Barnes said. "We want to win every game that's left, and if we obtain that goal we can go to a good bowl game."

One issue Missouri has to work out is the second-half performance. In Big 12 play, Missouri has yet to score a second-half touchdown and has been outscored 80-11 after halftime.

"We can't let these things continue to happen," quarterback Blaine Gabbert said. "They've happened more than once this year and we have to come out with a renewed focus to make sure they don't happen again."

Pinkel discounted the notion that he and his staff are not making the proper halftime adjustments.

"I've always said that if you're waiting until halftime to make adjustments, you're not a very good coach," Pinkel said. "We make adjustments all the time, after every series, so I've always said that I thought that was very, very overrated."

That doesn't mean he isn't searching for answers.

"You can stop practice, you can say this is the second half or this is the fourth quarter," Pinkel said. "But obviously, we're not doing a good enough job."

As surprising as Missouri has been on the down side, the Wildcats have been one of the success stories of the Big 12 in Bill Snyder's return as coach. Kansas State (6-4, 4-2) is in the hunt for the Big 12 North championship.