COLUMBIA, Mo. — Losing the first three conference games isn't the surest path to success in college football, but a lane remains open for the Missouri Tigers in the Big 12 North.

Despite opening their conference schedule with losses to Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Texas, and finding themselves tied for last place in the Big 12 North, the Tigers (5-3, 1-3) kept themselves in the hunt for the division title with their 36-17 victory Saturday over the Colorado Buffaloes.

"It's that time of the season. We're in November now," coach Gary Pinkel said. "We all know coming off that three-game losing streak that our backs are against the wall. But we accomplished the goal of winning that first game."

Because of the mishmash in the Big 12 North standings, the Tigers remain in contention, as do all five of their division rivals. The good news is that the Tigers seem to be getting their act together at an ideal time.

The Tigers' situation harkens to 2007, when Missouri had to win its final six games to claim the Big 12 North. They accomplished their mission, then lost to Oklahoma in the conference championship before defeating Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl.

"We want to finish the season strong. November is when you'll be remembered," wide receiver Danario Alexander said. "I don't really look at the standings. I look at the team ahead of us this week. We're focused on Baylor right now, and we've got to win this game."

If Alexander or any of his teammates took a sneak peak at the standings, though, they'd see that the journey from bottom to top could be swift. If the Tigers defeat Baylor, (3-5, 0-4), Kansas State loses to Kansas, Nebraska loses to Oklahoma and Iowa State loses to Oklahoma State on Saturday, Missouri will face Kansas State on Nov. 14 in Manhattan with a chance to move into a tie for first.

"Coming off those three games, we looked at the schedule and the remaining five games. You take a quick overview and look at your goals, what's available, but understand there's no margin for error," Pinkel said. "So, we're focused on our next game. This is Game 2, and you try to focus on getting better this week."

Pinkel noted that the offensive line had begun to show signs of improvement in a 41-7 loss to Texas, but picked up its play both in the rushing and passing games against Colorado. Mizzou gained 184 yards on the ground, its highest total in its conference games by more than 100 yards. Perhaps more important, quarterback Blaine Gabbert wasn't touched in the first half.

"They played a tremendous game overall, for the passing game as well as the running game," Gabbert said. "So our offense was extremely balanced and that helped us score a lot of points. I just keep telling my offensive line to keep it up. They played a great game Saturday."

Gabbert completed more than 50 percent of his passes for the first time since suffering an ankle injury against Nebraska, the first of three successive losses.

Alexander noted that a healthy Gabbert "will be more accurate in his throws. He can run around, so they don't drop too many people in coverage. They'll try to put the rush on him, but he can avoid the rush and has more time to get the ball out to us."

Pinkel also acknowledged that the Tigers' defense rebounded from a mistake-prone performance against Texas to post eight sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception against Colorado. The key on defense is more of the same in the remaining four games.

"We did a good job of getting takeaways this past game, but we've just entered the forest," linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. "We know that there's a long road ahead, and we've got to just take it one week at a time. I feel like we played a good game this past weekend, but it wasn't a full game. We want to put it together for four full quarters, and if we can put that together then that will help us out."

Vahe Gregorian of the Post-Dispatch contributed information to this story.