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By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah is in familiar territory. And it's not a good place to be.
After losing two straight and three of four, the Utes are back at .500 with a 4-4 record, 2-2 in the Mountain West Conference.
"That's miles away from where we hoped to be at this point in the season," coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday. "But we still have four football games left and back-to-back home games, which is a positive for us."
Utah hosts UNLV on Saturday, has a week off and is home again Nov. 11 against Colorado State.
The Utes were 4-4 a year ago after beating UNLV 42-32 to end a three-game losing streak. They closed the season by winning four of five and want a strong finish again this year.
"There's a lot of similarities to where we were a year ago," Whittingham said. "We fought our way out of that and we're going to have to do the same thing this year."
Utah needs six wins to be eligible for a fourth consecutive bowl game, but a 6-6 record after the regular season would be a major disappointment for a team that was voted second-best in the league in the preseason poll.
And going 2-2 the rest of the way isn't guaranteed.
The Utes travel to Air Force on Nov. 18 and then return home to play rival Brigham Young, the only team without a loss in the MWC, in the finale.
"We've just got to stay positive. We can't take a negative approach. We've got to focus on what we've done well this season," Whittingham said.
There haven't been a lot of positives lately. After leading 24-3 at New Mexico last week, the Utes collapsed in the second half and ended up losing 34-31.
Utah rallied for a touchdown with 6:18 left to play, but the defense couldn't stop the Lobos, who regained the lead about four minutes later and held on when Utah failed to convert on fourth-and-1 in the final minute.
The Oct. 14 game at Wyoming was even worse. The Cowboys won easily, 31-15, getting all their points before Utah could get on the scoreboard. Utah turned the ball over four times.
The Utes didn't have any turnovers at New Mexico but allowed the Lobos to gain 467 yards on offense.
The lack of consistency has been the most frustrating part to Whittingham.
"The coaching staff has got to stay positive, which we will do. I'll guarantee that," he said. "But we'll find out what kind of resiliency we have."
Technically, Utah still is contention in the Mountain West. But winning the title would mean running off four straight victories and hoping BYU, Wyoming and New Mexico falter down the stretch.
"We've got to persevere, much like the situation we were in last year," Whittingham said. "The situation is almost identical."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-10-23-06 1654MDT
