“Those who win in November will be remembered.”

It’s a saying Missouri Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel reminds his team of every season.

And with five weeks left in the college football season, many SEC teams, including the Tigers, are reaching the most important stretch of the schedule.

Missouri has the pleasure of four more SEC opponents on its schedule — Kentucky, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Arkansas. Fortunately for Mizzou, the month of November has been kind to them in past years.

Since 2007, the Tigers are an astounding 21-7 in the month of November. Aside from a 2012 season where the Tigers finished just 1-3 in the last full month of the season, Missouri’s 20-4 record is highly impressive. Last season, the Tigers finished 4-0 in November en route to their first SEC Championship berth and they’ll need as equally impressive of a run this November if they want to make a repeat visit to Atlanta.

So far it’s been a largely successful —albeit ugly at times — season for head coach Gary Pinkel and his team. There’s never any assurance as to what Missouri team will show up on any given week. Will it be the Missouri who lost to Indiana at home or were blown out 34-0 by Georgia? Or will it be the Tigers team that beat Toledo and Florida on the road by a combined 54 points?

Despite the inconsistency, Missouri finds itself with a 6-2 record and 3-1 in conference play, conveniently sitting in second place in the SEC East behind Georgia as the Tigers head into the crucial and final month.

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Hoping to move past the up-and-down play, Pinkel understands November separates the contenders from pretenders.

“This is the time when it’s about championships,” Pinkel said.

Pinkel and his Tigers know a thing or two about championships, too. Thanks to his sterling coaching record in November, Pinkel has led Missouri to four divisional championships since 2007, three of which were in the Big 12.

In order to win their fifth divisional title in eight years, the Tigers will need some help as well. Because Georgia owns the tiebreaker, it hold a half-game lead over the Tigers, but the ‘Dawgs face three SEC opponents, including a date with No. 3 ranked Auburn on Nov. 15. Another perfect November and one more loss by UGA would send Missouri to Atlanta.

The Tigers haven’t been without their struggles this season, especially on offense, but Pinkel believes you can’t concern yourself with the past. When the calendar turns to November, his team’s focus will be razor-sharp and ready to make another run at a division title.

“This is when you finish,” Pinkel added. “If you’re a competitor, this should just fire you up. This is the position you want to be in. I know I’m ready.”

We’ll see if Missouri’s players are as ready as their coach come Nov. 1 when the Tigers begin their final stretch against the Kentucky Wildcats