CONSERVATIVE STREAK COSTS WEBER

In any other league, a 35-point lead in the third quarter would be safe. But not in the Big Sky Conference.

Nevada overcame a 49-14 deficit to defeat Weber State 55-49 on Saturday in Reno, stamping the Wolf Pack's name in the NCAA record books as the greatest comeback ever in college football."This one is the Miracle on Virginia Street," Nevada coach Chris Ault said. "I don't have enough words in my vocabulary to describe it. They went up by 35, I felt, boy, this is going to take a miracle."

Backup quarterback Chris Vargas threw two touchdown passes and scored on a 9-yard run to key the comeback as Nevada, the top-ranked team in Division I-AA, improved to 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the league.

In other games, Montana edged Montana State 16-9, Boise State tamed Idaho State 38-16 and Eastern Washington defeated Northern Arizona 44-29. Idaho had the week off.

Vargas, a sophomore from Woodland, Calif., completed 22 of 38 passes for 346 yards, while running back Eric Smith ran for three touchdowns - the last from 3 yards with a minute to play.

For Weber State (5-3 overall, 4-2 Big Sky), the sky fell in after quarterback Jamie Martin's 30-yard run early in the third quarter opened up the 35-point lead. The Wildcats' next seven possessions ended in a blocked punt, an interception, three punts and two Nevada fumble recoveries.

"I could think about this one for a long time but I don't think I'd be able to come up with all the right answers," Weber coach Dave Arslanian said. "When you change and go conservative, that's when things usually begin to turn sour for a team."

The previous NCAA comeback records were shared by two Division III teams that stormed back from 33-point deficits.

In 1984, Salisbury State trailed 33-0 before winning 34-33. In 1980, Wisconsin-Platteville rallied from a 33-0 deficit to beat Wisconsin-Eau Claire 52-43.

"It's like a fairy tale," Vargas said. "I just wanted to come in and see if maybe I could get something going and maybe we'd get on a roll. All I was trying to do was chip away a little bit at a time."