Boise State keen to show its resiliency

SAN DIEGO -- Still stunned at seeing their unbeaten season and Bowl Championship Series chances sail into oblivion on a missed field-goal attempt, there's nothing No. 10 Boise State can do but try to salvage what's left of its season.

A 36-35 loss to Texas Christian dropped Boise State into second place in the Mountain West Conference. Starting tonight at San Diego State, quarterback Kellen Moore and the Broncos have three games left to try to grab the best bowl berth they can.

Wide receiver Tyler Shoemaker said he thinks the Broncos (8-1, 3-1) will bounce back, just like they did from last year's late-season loss at UNR.

"I don't know if you can ever be prepared for that kind of thing," Shoemaker said. "It's something you work for, but it's kind of still a shock. It's similar to last year as far as the feeling and the general environment of the team and the guys. I think like last year we're going to bounce back and we've got a lot of games left to play.

"I don't think you can ever just erase it from your memory. You take what you can out of it and move forward, strive to get better. There's a lot of stuff we can fix from that game. But all we have is another opportunity to play this Saturday."

The Broncos had a chance to win a last-second thriller against TCU, but freshman Dan Goodale's 39-yard kick sailed wide right as time expired to give the Horned Frogs the victory and a clear shot at the Mountain West championship.

Last year, Boise State's unbeaten season and BCS hopes were spoiled when senior kicker Kyle Brotzman missed from short range in regulation and overtime, allowing UNR to take a 34-31 overtime victory.

"You know, the good thing is there isn't a lot we'd do differently," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. "Every game there is a few things you'd like to have back. But the kids played hard ... they gave us what they had."

San Diego State (6-3, 3-2) is bowl eligible for the second straight year and wants to stay in the mix for the league's postseason berths. But the Aztecs might be without star running back Ronnie Hillman, who sprained his left ankle in an 18-15 win at Colorado State last Saturday.

Coach Rocky Long said the team will decide at game time if Hillman can play. If he can't, that will put more of the load on senior quarterback Ryan Lindley, who has broken the school and conference record for career passing yards with 11,494.

Hillman "is a really good player," Petersen said. "But I will say this, they've got an NFL quarterback as well. Their style is a little bit different than TCU, but TCU is a really good example of a running team as well and our defense did a pretty good job on that aspect.

"But they capitalized on the other. So SDSU is equally capable of the same thing. They can run the heck out of the ball, but they can throw it as well."

Long said the loss to TCU probably makes the Broncos dangerous rather than vulnerable.

"I think that teams that have the kind of success that they have had over the years, there is a certain expectation level," Long said. "They expect to win every game, so when they don't win one it puts them on edge and it makes them want to play better in the next game."