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By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah has tried for the last three weeks to live down a humbling loss at UCLA in the season opener.
The Utes have outscored their opponents 131-14 the last three games, but the opponents have been a Division I-AA program and two teams that have yet to win this season.
The competition is about to get a lot tougher. Utah (3-1) hosts No. 22 Boise State (4-0) on Saturday.
"It will be a good barometer of where we are in week five," coach Kyle Whittingham said at his weekly news conference Monday.
The Broncos were a late addition to the 2006 schedule. The two schools from neighboring states agreed last winter to a four-game series. Utah will visit Boise in 2011 and the home-and-home series will continue through 2013.
"It made sense geographically. It made sense from a competitive standpoint," Whittingham said. "If you think you're a good football team, then you shouldn't shy away from other good football teams."
The Utes played their Mountain West opener Saturday and beat San Diego State 38-7 on the road. Utah has looked far different from the team that lost at UCLA 31-10 on Sept. 2, but since then the Utes have played the Aztecs (0-3), Utah State (0-4) and Div. I-AA Northern Arizona.
Utah follows that stretch with back-to-back games against the Broncos and No. 17 TCU next Thursday.
Whittingham said the Utes won't worry about the Horned Frogs, the defending MWC champions, until Saturday night. Boise State is all he wants his players thinking about this week.
"They deserve their ranking," Whittingham said. "They're every bit deserving of where they're ranked. Maybe even they should be a little higher in my estimation."
Whittingham said the Utes will likely be without defensive end Soli Lefiti, who strained a knee ligament early in Saturday's game. He hopes to have Lefiti back in time for TCU.
The Utes could have offensive lineman Tavo Tupola back for Saturday, but it will depend on whether Tupola could practice this week. Tupola missed last week's game with a knee injury.
Utah has won its last three games against ranked teams, but hasn't played one this season. Now the Utes get two in a row.
------ On the net: www.utahutes.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-09-25-06 1853MDT
