SALT LAKE CITY — BYU and Utah enter this season’s halfway point with identical 4-2 records, with each respective program believing it is pointed in the right direction.

Whether one or both get where each wants is still much in doubt. As promising as the second half appears, it could turn south quickly.

Looking ahead, here’s what needs to happen for each to consider this season a success:

BYU

Having already suffered a fourth consecutive loss to bitter rival Utah, the Cougars are running out of chances to get a quality win. The decent win over Texas is somewhat canceled out by a horrendous loss to Virginia, which has lost three consecutive games and is a bad team.

Ignoring the facts that that BYU’s next opponent (Houston) has built a 5-0 record against awful competition, the remaining opportunities to beat a good team come against Boise State, Wisconsin and Notre Dame. Houston, Idaho State and Nevada shouldn’t offer much resistance.

To put any great spin on this season, the Cougars have to go 2-1 in the three remaining projected tough games. And one of those wins had better come against Boise State.

Related:

BYU preps for a clash of Cougars

After preparing for and beating a Georgia Tech team intent on running the ball and draining the clock, the BYU Cougars are this week getting ready for the opposite approach as presented by the Houston Cougars: a pass-heavy, up-tempo attack that will be more of stylistic match for their namesakes from Provo.

BYU has yet to beat Boise State in three attempts, blowing chances near the end of two games. Already with two losses, the Broncos returned only seven starters this season. If the Cougars can’t beat Boise State at home this season, it’s doubtful they will any time soon.

The Wisconsin and Notre Dame games look difficult, if for no other reason than both are on the road late in the season. But neither team looks to be a powerhouse at this point.

During fall camp new offensive coordinator Robert Anae forecast a slow start for the offense, saying it would take several games hit stride. His assessment has been right on the money.

The offense is much improved over the last three games, with Taysom Hill finally showing why he was good enough to originally sign with Stanford before changing his mind while on a church mission. While it’s true the sophomore quarterback has benefitted from weaker competition, he still has progressed greatly since the season began.

Assuming the Cougars beat the three lesser teams on the schedule along with Boise State and splits with Notre Dame and Wisconsin, they would finish 9-3. Losses to Virginia and Utah would sting, but BYU would probably still be ranked.

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During his presentation to the Cougar Club on national signing day each February, coach Bronco Mendenhall loves to boast about his team’s accomplishments. A 10-2 record in the regular season and a bowl win against a Pac-12 team would give Mendenhall something to brag about, even if he can’t consistently beat Utah.

Utah

Picked ahead of only lowly Colorado in the South Division, Utah is a pleasant surprise so far. Most prognostications had the Utes failing to qualify for a bowl game for the second consecutive season, but at 4-2 the postseason is almost assured.

With an overtime loss to Oregon State and a seven-point setback to UCLA, coach Kyle Whittingham said the Utes are close to being 6-0. But he also knows they were fortunate to beat Utah State and BYU in close games.

After the two close losses to start conference play, the Utes appeared destined to begin 0-3 for the third consecutive season. But upsetting fifth-ranked Stanford has injected a jolt of optimism throughout the program and fan base.

Related:

If only the Utes were 6-0

Despite nearly everyone saying Utah couldn't get a victory over a Top 5 team — and let's be honest, their track record wasn't in their favor — the Utes were resilient and were the better team as they upset the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal Saturday night.

In the span of three hours, the outlook changed from Utah struggling to become bowl eligible to now thinking eight wins is possible. At this point, only Oregon seems insurmountable.

Of course, all that positivity could be swept away if the Utes don’t beat Arizona in their first game out of the state this season. In this conference, as the Stanford game already showed, darned near anything can happen.

With Washington State and Colorado on the schedule to close the regular season, bowl eligibility shouldn’t be in question. The quality of the season will be determined by the outcomes against Arizona, USC and Arizona State, three winnable games.

With such low expectations entering the season, going 6-6 could be considered an accomplishment for the Utes. But they upped the ante significantly by producing the nation’s biggest upset to date.

With this schedule, going 8-4 would put Whittingham in contention for conference coach of the year.

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