LOS ANGELES -- The Pac-10 title is out of reach, and a bowl game is still an iffy proposition. The only concrete goal that UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel can set for his team is to win back-to-back games for the first time in two months.

And if the Bruins can't get that done on their trip to lowly Washington State, everything else that's gone wrong this season will pale in comparison.

UCLA (4-5, 1-5 Pac-10) heads to the Palouse on Saturday needing two wins in its final three games for a .500 record and bowl eligibility, which wouldn't guarantee a bowl bid.

With remaining games against up-and-down Arizona State and crosstown bully USC, the Bruins clearly need to beat the one-win Cougars to have a realistic shot at a pleasant end to a trying season.

"In the past several trips to Pullman, UCLA has not done very well," Neuheisel said, noting the Bruins' five losses in their last six trips to Washington State. "So it's imperative that we get a mindset early in the week that we're going to go up there and play our best football game. (There will) probably be cold, inclement weather, so it's going to take a resolve, a mental toughness to disregard that and go up and play a great football game."

What Neuheisel calls the "streak of one" began last weekend with a 24-23 win over Washington that featured another strong performance by the Bruins' defense along with another rescue effort by Kevin Craft, the senior quarterback who has led UCLA's last two victories.

Craft played the second half after Kevin Prince received a concussion on a helmet-to-helmet hit while scrambling for yardage. Prince has been cleared to practice this week, and Neuheisel expects him to start despite Craft's remarkable relief work.

Prince was doing well for himself against the Huskies, passing for 212 yards and moving the UCLA offense with nearly as much success as he enjoyed in the Bruins' 16-point fourth quarter of the previous week's loss at Oregon State.

"Coming off that fourth quarter at Oregon State, we were feeling good about ourselves," said receiver Nelson Rosario, who had seven catches for 111 yards against Washington. "Our chemistry was real good all week. Our practices were great. We're just getting a bit more comfortable with each other. We're getting to where we can feel good."

If the UCLA offense really has reached a new level of comfort, turnovers will become the biggest foe -- and the Bruins made five against Washington. Neuheisel will re-institute ball security drills in practice this week to remind his players of all ball-carrying dangers.

"I'm mad at myself that I let it slide in an effort to cut a few minutes off of practice," Neuheisel said.

UCLA's defense also was back in good form, nearly shutting out Washington in the second half and finishing off the victory on Rahim Moore's interception of a tipped ball in the final minute. The postgame celebration was more relief than ecstasy, but Neuheisel hopes his Bruins finally are rolling late in his second season.

"We're getting there, and kids are starting to feel that," Neuheisel said. "It was without question the best week of practice for our offense, and that, in my mind, surged from the fourth quarter in Oregon State."