University of Utah Head Coach Blake Burdette may be wishing he hadn’t made the decision before the season to play Colorado and Air Force on consecutive days this weekend, but his team will have to do exactly that.

Both Colorado and Air Force remain in the hunt for the D1-A playoff spot, and to get there, they will have to go through Utah. Meanwhile the Utes, slightly ahead of the game in getting to the playoffs, still will need to win both games.

“It was unavoidable,” Burdette said of playing two games this weekend. “We had to do it this way because of schedules, exams, and finances. This made the most sense, but it won’t be easy.”

Coming off a 38-22 loss to BYU, the Utes have to feel confident they can score on anyone, but chastened, also, at the mistakes they made.

“There are some defensive mistakes we made, and there are some lineouts we’d like to have back, but we also did some good things,” said Burdette. “I think in the end, when you look at the games we’ve played against BYU and Cal, it’s almost a mental thing first. The guys have to put it out of their minds who they are playing and just play to their ability.”

The Utes were also unlucky enough to see flyhalf Danny Christenson miss a few makeable penalty goal attempts early. Burdette said that was strange, because Christenson was hitting everything in warm-ups.

“It’s just one of those days,” said Burdette.  “I know he took it hard and he’s been out on his own with a bag of balls practicing. I thought Danny played a great game and really stood tall defending that #10 channel.”

Defense has been a big part of the team’s work this week, especially as their attack cohesion has begun to really come together.

“As I say to the players, if we don’t let them score any points, we have a good chance of winning the game,” said Burdette. “We know Colorado has the ability to score, and so does Air Force. Defense is going to be very important for us, and it comes down to mental focus.”

Air Force didn’t actually come up much in RUGBYMag.com’s interview with Burdette. He was thinking of Friday night at Colorado, a Pac 12 rivalry game as well as a key league matchup.

“We have to win against Colorado, so we’re not holding anything back,” Burdette said. “We will select our best team and do our best to go out and win. Then we’re going to do the same the next day.”

If Utah wins both games with a bonus point, and keeps Air Force from getting two bonus points, then the Utes will clinch 2^nd place.

Current D1-A West standings; top two make the playoffs: