Utah Works to Keep Concentrating on the Present in MWC, Not Future in Pac-10

The words Utah and underdog haven't been used in the same sentence in a long time.

In fact, the mere thought of putting those two words together actually gives Utah coach Kyle Whittingham some pause. After all, his team is 32-4 since Sept. 29, 2007, including this past weekend's "upset" over No. 15 Pittsburgh.

"We don't have any inferiority complex or any of that going on," Whittingham said. "I don't even ever think of that stuff. It never crosses my mind. We're just trying to figure out ways to win each week."

But the Utes have taken a step out of the spotlight while Boise State and TCU have basked in it. The Broncos, who defeated a ranked Virginia Tech team Monday night, have been mentioned as possibly being the first non-automatic qualifying team to play in the national championship. TCU, which defeated a ranked Oregon State team, is gathering similar momentum.

All the while, Utah is going about its business, overcoming three turnovers, penalties and several mistakes to beat Pitt and quietly inch up the rankings similar to the way the Utes did in 2008.

But what's good for the Utes isn't necessarily good for the Mountain West Conference. The Mountain West is desperately trying to earn enough clout to become an automatic qualifying conference and Utah's ascent up the rankings isn't helping. Nothing Utah -- or BYU, which announced it was going independent after this season -- does this year counts toward the Mountain West's bid for automatic qualification. If anything, it puts the status in jeopardy. The better Utah becomes, the greater threat it poses to TCU and Boise State, which will be the only teams keeping the Mountain West's AQ chances afloat in 2011.

But Utah isn't going to let the Mountain West's goals detract from its team goals. Whittingham said the first thing he told his team heading into this season was that it's still in the Mountain West and that its only goal was to win a Mountain West title. Any talk about the Utes impending conference move to the Pac-10 would not be tolerated.

"All our focus is on the Mountain West Conference because that's the conference we're in," Whittingham said. "That was something that was really emphasized to our players when we first reported to fall camp. We didn't want any talk about anything but the task at hand and the conference we're in right now. Our guys have been good about doing that. We've had good focus, good preparation for the Pitt game. And I think the guys really took that to heart. As soon as you get ahead of yourself and start looking beyond what's right in front of you, that's when someone steps up and smacks you."

Utah will make its first steps toward the Mountain West title this week against a UNLV team that is rebuilding under new head coach Bobby Hauck. While this might be the Utes last game against UNLV for quite some time, Whittingham isn't one to get weepy-eyed at the prospect.

"I'm not a sentimental guy," Whittingham said about savoring his final trip through the Mountain West Conference. "My wife can attest to that. That's not in my makeup. You just move on. That may sound a little bit callous, but that's my mentality. Just take care of your business and move on."

Whittingham declined to draw any parallels between the start of this season and the start of the 2008 campaign that saw an unranked Utah squad beat No. 24 Michigan to begin the season. But one thing the two teams do have in common, Whittingham said, is that both give great effort to overcome shortcomings.

"One game does not a season make," Whittingham said. 'Even though we got a nice win in the opener against a good opponent, there are still a lot of unknowns. It's tough to assess where everybody is until about week three or four or even week five. Until you have multiple games, you don't get a good feel for it. We're still trying to figure out who we are."