The following sentence seems more like a fun “Mad Lib” than it does a statement of fact: A Dan Mullen-coached team is undefeated this season entering the month of November.

Mullen is in his sixth year as head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and he’s in the midst of the greatest season of his career as his Bulldogs sit atop the SEC standings at 7-0, earning the school’s first ever No. 1 ranking in the process. He and the rest of the Mississippi State program are already in uncharted territory as they pursue the school’s first SEC title since 1941 (that ’41 team remains MSU’s only SEC championship team in history), and the bullseye on their back is about to grow much larger as we enter the final month of the regular season.

Unfortunately for Mullen, he doesn’t have a great track record in the month of November during his first five seasons in Starkville. Mullen is just 7-12 in 19 November games, and he’s never finished with a winning record in any November as a head coach.

That will need to change this season if Mullen’s Bulldogs are to cap off their magical run with a West Division title and a berth in the first ever College Football Playoff this winter. Mississippi State has five games remaining on its schedule, but only two against teams currently ranked in the CFP Top 25, meaning MSU should at least have a chance at a 3-2 record in November and a 10-win regular season overall, both of which would be Mullen’s best as a head coach.

However, the Bulldogs want more than 10 measly wins, and if they’re going to do so they’ll need to overcome their November struggles of years past. Many of Mississippi State’s previous teams under Mullen have entered November with mediocre records, so the equally mediocre records they posted in the final month of those seasons should come as no surprise.

The lone exception to that rule was Mullen’s 2012 Mississippi State squad, which entered November with an impressive 7-1 record only to lose three of its final four games to cost itself a chance at a potential BCS bowl or at least a New Year’s Day bowl berth. The Bulldogs were actually a perfect 7-0 that season, just like they are right now, but lost to Alabama by 31 points on Oct. 27 to begin their late-season tailspin.

If Mississippi State repeats that tumble in 2014, it will be the greatest disappointment of the college football season for any team in the country. But the Bulldogs have already bucked plenty of negative trends during their 7-0 start to the current season, and a strong finish in November would fall right in line with State’s unprecedented success this year.

Mullen’s struggles in November are indicative of a greater trend during his coaching career — his inability to win big games in SEC play. Mullen had lost 15 straight games to ranked opponents entering this season, and as a result his struggles against powerhouse teams were well-documented. November is usually a backdrop to big SEC matchups, so it should come as no surprise to learn Mullen struggled in those games as well.

This year, however, Mullen’s Bulldogs are a perfect 3-0 against ranked teams, all of which were ranked in the top 10 when Mississippi State took them down. His team boasts the SEC’s second-best scoring offense and second-best rushing offense, and it has shown no signs of slowing down after a 45-31 win on the road against Kentucky last week to close the month of October.

Most importantly, Mullen’s team finally has the on-field leader necessary to win crucial late-season games in Heisman frontrunner Dak Prescott, who has electrified the SEC with his play as a passer and a runner this season. Prescott has looked like the second-coming of Tim Tebow in his playing style and results on the field, and the last time Mullen was part of a team that posted a winning record in November, Tebow was his quarterback (the 2008 Florida Gators, for which Mullen served as offensive coordinator, were a perfect 5-0 in November on their way to a second national title in three years).

The Gators’ five November wins that season even fell on the same five Saturdays on which Mississippi State has games this season — Nov. 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29. That’s just a coincidence, but it’s worth noting as Mullen prepares to repeat that success with a comparable star quarterback and No. 1 ranked team.

The Bulldogs’ head coach has proven a lot to his critics since the start of the season, but if he can’t overcome his greatest nemesis as a head coach — the month of November — it will all be for naught.

Mullen has passed all the tests to this point, but he’ll need one final passing grade in the final month of the season to cap off the greatest season in program history, and the greatest season of his young coaching career.