UNR boots No. 3 Boise State

RENO -- Two missed kicks and Boise State went from being the darling of BCS busters everywhere to just another team looking for a bowl game.

After winning 24 straight games, maybe it was just not meant to be.

UNR roared back from a 17-point halftime deficit, beating No. 3 Boise State 34-31 in overtime Friday night for the Wolf Pack's biggest victory ever. It snapped Boise State's winning streak and ended any hopes the Broncos would play in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

A game Boise State seemingly had in hand slipped away when normally efficient kicker Kyle Brotzman missed a 26-yard field goal with 2 seconds to play in regulation and another from 29 yards in overtime.

UNR redshirt freshman kicker Anthony Martinez didn't miss his chance in overtime, hitting a 34-yarder that touched off a wild celebration by a sellout crowd at Mackay Stadium.

"We had a chance to win it," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. "You play two evenly matched teams it usually comes down to a couple of plays. It's tough, it probably shouldn't have come down to that."

In the space of one bad half, the Broncos (10-1, 6-1 Western Athletic Conference) likely lost out on playing in any BCS bowl. On the verge of playing in a big game with a win, they will likely be relegated to the Humanitarian Bowl on their own blue field in Boise or the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.

That's good news for No. 4 Texas Christian, which was at risk of being nudged out of an automatic BCS bid even if it completed an unbeaten season today by beating lowly Mountain West Conference opponent New Mexico.

No. 19 UNR won't get a BCS invite, either, because that's life for schools not in automatic qualifier conferences. But that didn't stop the overflow crowd from celebrating the improbable win by the Wolf Pack, who were 14-point underdogs and had lost 10 straight to Boise State.

"It is the greatest victory this university has ever had, I can tell you that," coach Chris Ault said.

UNR (11-1, 6-1) rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to tie the game with 13 seconds left on a 7-yard pass to Rishard Mathews, who scored two second-half touchdowns for the Wolf Pack. But Boise State appeared poised to pull the game out after Kellen Moore hit a diving Titus Young with a 53-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage after the score.

Brotzman, who leads all active players in career scoring, pushed the short kick right, sending the game into overtime. UNR won the coin toss and deferred and Brotzman came out to try another field goal, but pulled it left.

"To be honest, I was on a knee on the sideline praying, hoping we'd get another shot," said UNR quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who passed for 259 yards and ran for a score.

Martinez came on after UNR's possession stalled and calmly kicked the ball down the middle, setting off the party.

"We're a team of destiny," Ault said. "When (Brotzman) missed that field goal, I said, 'Here we go guys, we got it now.' "

Boise State's loss was its first since the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl against TCU, and it came in most improbably. The Broncos built a 24-7 halftime lead and appeared on their way to a dominating win, but their offense stalled in the third quarter and UNR began finding the rhythm with its punishing running attack.

After being held in check by the Broncos' defense in the first half, UNR outrushed Boise State 239-8 in the second.