FORT WORTH, Texas — Utah and TCU won't be playing for the Mountain West Conference championship tonight.

Though projected as title contenders, the Utes and Horned Frogs enter their annual meeting with 1-2 records in league play.

The loser, for obvious reasons, faces a difficult task over the second half of the season.

"You're not going to win the conference with three losses. Air Force has already played five games and they're 4-1. If you look at anything past this week, you are making a mistake," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. "Every game you set your goals differently, based on how it turns out and how you do things. Right now, our opinion is to keep ourselves in the race, get to 2-2 in the league and 5-3 overall heading into the break.

"The key is to keep getting better as a football team," he added. "Our goal is to be the best team that TCU can be by the end of the season. That's all we can control."

Utah's mission is similar. The Utes enter the contest with three consecutive victories.

"We haven't panicked," head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "Staying the course is probably our biggest asset this year."

Developing consistency is something Utah has been seeking since being bombarded with injuries early in the season. Whittingham said he's finding it across the board.

Quarterback Brian Johnson, who is 3-0 as a starter since returning from a shoulder injury, said the Utes are far from being satisfied, however.

"We've been more consistent but there's still room for improvement," he explained. "There's a lot to work on, a lot to get better at. But I like where we are right now. We've just got to keep working and keep getting better."

TCU can relate. Patterson considers stability to be the secret of Utah's success.

"They've had a lot of the same problems we've had with injuries and trying to get people in the right situations," he said.

The Utes (4-3) and Horned Frogs (4-3) have plenty of similarities. The most pressing, though, is an immediate need for a victory.

"Both teams have fought back to try and get to a bowl game," Patterson said. "With two losses, we're both still trying to win the conference."

A third setback likely won't do it.

"History tells you that if you have three losses, it's tough to win a league championship," Whittingham said. "I'm trying to think to our days in the Western Athletic Conference and I can't remember a three-loss team winning that championship in that league either. So, three losses puts you in a situation where it will be difficult to win the league title."

Even so, Whittingham isn't placing any additional emphasis on this game. There's too much football left to play this season.

"Every week's a big game for us. All of our games are conference games from here on out," he said. "I know it's an old coach's cliche, but it's applicable to us and this team: We have to take it one game at a time and then we'll go from there."

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On the air

Utah (4-3, 1-2) at TCU (4-3, 1-2)
Thursday, 6 p.m., Amon G. Carter Stadium
Radio: 700AM, TV: Versus

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E-mail: dirk@desnews.com