Utah Utes football: Utes look to shore up deficiencies

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's impending trip to New Mexico sounds a bit like an episode of "Seinfeld." As in, "It's not you, it's me."

That's how the 14th-ranked Utes are approaching Saturday's game in Albuquerque against a lowly Lobos squad that has been outscored 124-17 in losses to Oregon and Texas Tech.

Although head coach Kyle Whittingham has reminded his team that things are traditionally tough for the Utes in the Land of Enchantment (Utah is just 13-12-1 all-time at University Stadium), he's busy trying to shore up the Utes' own deficiencies this week.

"Right now, it's more about us," Whittingham said. "Correcting our issues and making sure we get done what we need to get done and not necessarily who the opponent is."

New Mexico, he noted, has had a couple of tough games — falling to a "tremendous" Oregon team and a "very explosive" Texas Tech squad.

The lopsided losses, though, don't mean a lot to Whittingham. He considers every week to be the playoffs in college football. Nothing is easy.

"Every week's as big as the last or as big as the one coming up. So that's something that we've got to continually preach," Whittingham said. "Our players appear to have a good handle on that and understand that every week is important and you can't overlook anybody."

And that includes New Mexico. The Lobos, who are just 1-12 since Mike Locksley took over as head coach last year, still talk a good game.

"We're excited about having the opportunity to get back out this Saturday against a very good Utah team, the 14th-ranked team in the country," Locksley said. "We've had a rough couple of weeks here and we're excited for the opportunity to continue to take the next step that we need to take. We know we have a great challenge ahead of us facing Utah."

The Lobos, he added, have made some strides since a 72-0 loss at Oregon in the season opener. The focus now is to play with more discipline. Turnovers were costly in the first game and penalties were pivotal in the second.

The Utes have issues as well.

"It's about us this week," Whittingham said. "... We've got enough to fix on our own."

After last week's 38-10 win over UNLV, he noted that punt protection was a priority. The Utes have had kicks blocked in both games this season.