Stranger things have certainly happened, but barring a major meltdown in the remaining two games of the regular season, Nebraska will be a participant in the Dec. 2 Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City.

The Huskers control their own destiny after knocking off Missouri, which had shared the lead in the Big 12 North. NU needs to win this week at Texas A&M or defeat Colorado Nov. 24 in Lincoln to earn its first bid to the title game since 1999.

Yes, winning one of two will get the Huskers to Kansas City, but they really need to not have a letdown after an impressive 34-20 victory over the Tigers on a beautiful November Saturday for Homecoming festivities.

"We put ourselves in a pretty good position, but we still have to take it one at a time and focus on our business on the road as we get ready for Texas A&M," coach Bill Callahan said.

Beating the Aggies at College Station is never easy, but both their losses this season have come at Kyle Field. A&M lost 31-27 to Texas Tech Sept. 30 and a 17-16 heartbreaker to Oklahoma the first Saturday in November.

After facing two freshmen quarterbacks and two sophomores the last four weeks, the Huskers will see another talented sophomore in A&M's Stephen McGee, who has completed 62.6 percent of his passes for 1,816 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 482 yards.

A "bigger" concern when defensing the Aggies' running game is 274-pound sophomore running back Jorvorskie Lane, who has 616 yards this season and 18 touchdowns, one short of the A&M season record.

Nebraska will need to duplicate some of the things it did well against Missouri — a well-balanced offense that converted 11-of-17 third-downs while allowing no sacks and an opportunistic defense that forced three turnovers, two leading directly to touchdowns.

You can read more about the Huskers' rebound from a disappointing performance at Oklahoma State in this week's edition of Huskers Illustrated.

Our "Recruiting Through the Years" series continues with a look at the 1985 recruiting class that included quarterback Steve Taylor and defensive end Broderick Thomas. Sophomore tackle Lydon Murtha is the subject of "Spotlight," and place-kicker/holder Jake Wesch answers "10 Questions."

Wesch threw a touchdown pass on a fake field goal against Kansas State earlier this season. The trick play list grew when wide receiver Maurice Purify took a pitch from Taylor and threw a touchdown pass to Terrence Nunn to give NU a 10-0 lead over Missouri late in the first quarter.

That continued the Huskers' trend of fast starts. They have now outscored opponents 96-10 in the first period and 196-83 in the first half.

Another fast start will be important this week. Yes, Nebraska can lose to the Aggies and still represent the North in Kansas City on the first Saturday of December. But a three-game winning streak to end the regular season would be huge entering a probable rematch with powerful Texas.