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As awful as he feels, Lobos quarterback Donovan Porterie vows a loss to BYU will not define his team's season.

The University of New Mexico is still smarting from its 31-24 loss to the Cougars on Saturday night at University Stadium.

But Porterie and several other Lobos leaders are eager to pick up the pieces.

"Of course, this does show us exactly what we thought before we played BYU - we are capable of beating any team in this conference," Porterie said. "We have to take this and learn from it. We have to work on our mistakes and find ways to make ourselves better. We just can't pack up and quit because we lost a game we thought we could have won if we played our best."

UNM junior Rodney Ferguson is just as eager to focus on improving.

"I still think we have a chance to win the conference championship," he said. "That's our big goal this season. We'd be a lot better off if we had won our first conference game, but we can still come back if we work hard."

The Lobos must walk a fine line this week.

They can use the BYU game as motivation to improve, but it's a slippery slope focusing on a loss. The emotions tied to The One That Got Away easily could snowball into more losses.

Senior wide receiver Travis Brown, one of four team captains, has seen the Lobos take the plunge before.

UNM is now 3-2, tied for the best start under coach Rocky Long. The last crew that accomplished this feat was the 2005 Lobos, who started hot before losing to UTEP and eventually stumbling to a 6-5 record. One of the most talent-rich rosters in UNM history did not get invited to a bowl game and underachieved by all standards, including their own.

"That's my most important job here - it's time to step up and be a leader," Brown said. "I have to be there and remind guys we have a lot of games ahead of us. The only way this loss can get any worse is if we let it get to us.

"I know we're not that type of team this year. We fight back and push each other. And if it starts to pop up, I know all the seniors and team captains will be there to stop it."

The Lobos have plenty of things they can refine.

While they have boasted balanced numbers on offense and defense, the team's punt return team has struggled mightily.

The defense has largely shined but also has had some significant miscues.

During the BYU's final drive, the linebackers were supposed to stop at 10 yards to prevent quarterback Max Hall from scrambling for a first down. The linebackers kept creeping forward, lured by a potential sack. Hall took off and easily earned the first down, allowing BYU to run out the clock and grab the win.

Porterie said he also feels far from perfect executing his job.

"I think we lacked concentration and were too excited (against BYU)," he said. "We've had some problems to fix in every game. So the best way to fix those is more practice and more preparation. If you are focused and prepared, you don't have those problems."