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After at least half — and probably more — of Utah's games this season, Kyle Whittingham has used a word to characterize his team that is more than just a cute little condescending expression. It's a truth that could be a main beam for the Utes, an identity, as they raise and hold the roof over another run at the Pac-12 South title.

Resilient.

That's what he's correctly called his team.

"I love coaching these guys," he said.

And the word is one of the reasons why.

Some smart guy once said, "Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before."

The Utes' reality is still pretty darn good.

They've faced all kinds of adversity, much of it centered on injuries to important players, but also on the sudden retirement of a fatigued and overwhelmed running back around whom the Utah offense was supposed to be built and, four weeks later, asking for and embracing his unretirement. There has also been a string of close games that could have turned on any number of circumstances and a difficult road loss in which the Utes did nearly everything right, and still blew it at the end, a disappointment that might have rolled into more trouble had it not been for the quality Whittingham admires.

And so, they are 7-1, 4-1 in league play, repeatedly tossing their troubles aside.

Which is to say, the Utes know how to win.

In some ways, finding victory in tight games is even more impressive than winning in blowouts. The reason being, the Utes almost always give themselves a shot to win and they've learned typically to capitalize. It wasn't so long ago that Utah was deficient in that regard in the Pac-12.

Not anymore.

All told, they've won lower-scoring affairs — against BYU, 20-19, and Oregon State, 19-14 — and they've lost and won medium-scoring games — against Cal, 28-23, and USC, 31-27 — and they've won higher-scoring contests — against San Jose State, 34-17, Arizona, 36-23, and UCLA, 52-45.

And here's what some might consider a real kick to the head, but that viewed under a different light could be seen as a bonus: They've trailed at one juncture or another, and sometimes at multiple junctures, in every game except for their shutout win over Southern Utah.

Did we mention they are 7-1?

With four conference games remaining, then, Utah football sits where it has sat in previous seasons — on the far edge of a divisional title, with work yet to do. This time, the Utes have a decent chance of finishing that work, or at least qualifying for the Pac-12 championship game, arduous though it is, starting with Saturday's match with league-leading Washington at Rice-Eccles, followed by a roadie at Arizona State, a home game against Oregon, and then a huge game at Colorado.

It might be necessary to page Dr. Freud here, but the resilience spoken of by Whittingham seems born out of a couple of things: 1) The Utes have a general point to prove to the rest of the league, many of their players having been overlooked or misjudged by other Pac-12 coaches and programs. Before the season started, Tim Patrick said that he and his teammates wanted to stand triumphant over every conference foe — and he said it with strong conviction — for undervaluing his — and their — attributes as a Division-I athlete; and 2) They reflect the attitude and stubborn stance of a head coach driven to achieve more than he has in the past, always having been forced to catch the bouquet, not toss it.

Whittingham is tired of not achieving his primary goal of winning the South and taking the league. He knows what a trip to the championship game and to the Rose Bowl would do for his psyche, for his program, for his wallet. He wants to prove wrong those who predicted it would take the Utes two decades or more to accomplish that.

Also, there's the way Utah plays the game. While it has yielded more passing yards than it has gained this season, the diversity in the attack is expansive enough to keep opponents off-balance and drives alive. The offensive bedrock of the Utes has always been the run game and it's no different now. Thus far, Utah has out-rushed its opponents by nearly 800 yards, and the explosive return of Joe Williams and the 511 yards he's gained in the past two games alone has greatly stacked that advantage.

Some deflect time of possession as a meaningless statistic, but Whittingham does not. The Utes this season have averaged 35 minutes possession time and change against opposing teams' 24 minutes and change. That has the double-barreled effect of grinding down defenses and keeping the ball away from potent offenses. That's the kind of stat that could come into play in a big way in Saturday's game, what with the success on attack of Jake Browning and the Huskies.

Washington ranks No. 1 in the conference in scoring offense (48.3 points) and in scoring defense (allowing 14.6 points). Utah averages 29.9 points and allows 21.6. The Huskies run for 228 yards a game, the Utes 214. Washington also ranks first in pass defense, although Utah sits three spots ahead of the Huskies in run defense. While the Utes have not been as defensively dominant as some might have expected, the guys up front are, indeed, physical.

Resilience will be a big deal now and throughout what's left of the season. The fact that the Utes are 10-point dogs on their home field Saturday pumps fuel for Whittingham's fire and he'll most certainly underscore that disrespect to his players, the resilient ones he loves to coach.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on the Zone Sports Network, 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson. —

Comeback Utes

• Trailed San Jose State 10-6 in second quarter, won 34-17

• Trailed USC 24-10 in third quarter, won 31-27

• Trailed Cal 14-0 in first quarter, lost 28-23

• Trailed Arizona 14-3 in second quarter, won 36-23

• Trailed UCLA 21-14 in first quarter, won 52-45