Weber State football got its week off to reset and fine-tune things that would help a 3-5 team — one with four FCS losses by a combined 10 points — finish plays that might lead to wins in the final four games of the regular season.

“Get better on technique and attention to details,” head coach Mikey Mental said, concisely summarizing the team’s bye-week focus.

The Wildcats hit the week off after a 51-48 overtime loss at Sacramento State that ended on a missed Kyle Thompson field goal.

“They handled the bye week pretty well. A tough loss — it’s a loss at the end of the day, and obviously we’re falling short in areas,” Mental said. “It all comes back to how can I and my staff put these guys in better situations, continue to grow them and stop making key mistakes in key situations.”

The next challenge is a road trip to rival Northern Arizona (4-4, 2-2 Big Sky). WSU junior cornerback Jalon Rock said the team spent some time hitting each other to prepare.

“The coaches really emphasized being more physical,” Rock said. “The first two practices last week were really physical, and (we) had a couple days off to get the mind off football and get refocused, finish the season off with a playoff push.”

Is a playoff push an outlandish goal for these Wildcats?

It’s not impossible, at least, but requires Weber to solve the mistakes that have ailed them in each loss and go a perfect 4-0 down the stretch just to have a chance.

That begins with NAU; a win over the Lumberjacks would push WSU to 3-2 in the Big Sky and would make the Wildcats one of only five in the 12-team league above .500 in conference games. Three more wins from there would have WSU at just 7-5 overall but 6-2 in the Big Sky.

That push also very likely requires some help. Weber State would need most teams in similar situations to falter and make a weaker bubble for the playoff field. That includes inside the Big Sky; any or all of NAU, Idaho State (2-3), Sacramento State (1-3) and Eastern Washington (1-3) would need to remain below WSU in the league standings.

But a team that struggles to finish in the moment can hardly afford to think about its four-game finish. First is the trip to NAU, the program’s best on-field rival with the all-time series at 28-28.

At first, dropped passes plagued Weber. With those seemingly solved, QB turnovers took their place. Present throughout have been place-kicking and defensive struggles.

“I’ve tried to be more vocal and talk more to the defense, make sure we all know what’s coming … be better in situational awareness, especially third downs, we’ve struggled a lot,” Rock said. “We’ve tried to really hone in on third down because that’s supposed to be where we eat.”

Weber State and Northern Arizona kick off at 2 p.m. Saturday.