'CATS BLOW BIGGEST LEAD IN NCAA HISTORY

Nevada made the biggest comeback in NCAA football history, overcoming a 35-point deficit in the third quarter and rallying to beat Weber State 55-49 Saturday on Eric Smith's 3-yard touchdown run with 1:02 left.

Nevada, ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA, trailed 42-14 at halftime and fell behind 49-14 with 12:16 left in the third quarter. But the Wolf Pack scored the final 41 points to improve to 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big Sky Conference.The previous biggest rally in the NCAA was by Morehead State, which came back from a 32-point margin to beat Wichita State 36-35 on Sept. 20, 1986.

Smith scored the game's final three touchdowns. His last two scores came 31 seconds apart.

Nevada's comeback was led by backup quarterback Chris Vargas and wide receiver Chris Singleton.

Vargas completed 22 of 38 passes for 346 yards and two touchdowns in just over two quarters while Singleton had eight receptions for 225 yards. Singleton's total was the second-highest in school history.

"We all thought this would be too tough to come back," Vargas said. "But once we started clicking on offense, we thought we could do it."

Weber State (5-3, 4-2) took the lead behind Jamie Martin, who passed for 280 of his 411 yards and all three touchdowns in the first half. Martin scored on a 30-yard run early in the third quarter for a 35-point lead.

"After he ran for that third quarter touchdown to make it 49-14, I thought it would take a miracle," Nevada coach Chris Ault said. "Well, it was a miracle."

Nevada scored touchdowns in the third quarter on Vargas' 8-yard pass to Darrell King and an 11-yard toss to Joe King, making it 49-27.

In the final quarter, Vargas scored on a 9-yard run four minutes into the period, and Smith scored three times.