Nevada coach Chris Ault still talks humbly about how his football team has to fight to hold its head out of water in its first season of Division I-A football after the move from I-AA.
But that I-AA experience may have been what made the Wolf Pack a good-enough I-A team. Saturday afternoon in Mackay Stadium, Nevada scored 27 fourth-quarter points to stun Utah State 48-47. The Aggies led by 19 in the fourth quarter and could have won if they'd made a field goal with :04 left. The victory gave the Wolf Pack at least a piece of the Big West title and Ault his 100th home win. Nevada's the first I-A team to win a title in its first year after moving up."This is the greatest victory I've ever had," said Ault.
Bigger than Weber, said relief pitcher Chris Vargas. "This is for the championship." (Nevada scored a dramatic, NCAA-record comeback - 35 points - to beat Weber State in 1991.) Vargas, a nonstarting quarterback, engineered all three recent Pack comebacks, plus two in the 1990 I-AA playoffs that paved the way for this.
"They believe in him," Weatherbie said.
"I wasn't expecting this," said Vargas. "I just try to spark something."
He tied a Nevada record for a game with five TD passes in one half. The Wolf Pack scored three in the final 5:18 to pull it out.
"There's always a belief," said Ault. "We can't die in our stadium."
It was one of the finest games in Utah State history, setting the school's total-offense record with 684 yards while quarterback Anthony Calvillo tied a school records with five touchdown passes in a game and four in a half, and Jim Ray tied a school record with three touchdown receptions in a half.
That was the first half as the Aggies built a 28-7 lead.
The Aggies had already experienced the downside of second halves against Utah, when they let a close game become a blowout, and against San Jose State, when they lost on a field goal with just seconds left.
"I think this one was worse," said Calvillo, "because we were ahead practically the whole game, and to give it away the way we did is a heartbreaker."
"I'm hurt," said first-year Aggie coach Charlie Weatherbie. His team came a foot from beating San Jose when it couldn't convert a fourth-and-1 play to maintain possession in the final minutes, which the Spartans used to kick the field goal, and his Aggies still had a chance to win the championship outright late Saturday. They were ahead, and Pacific was leading San Jose. San Jose came back to win by a point, but the Ags could still have tied for the championship if San Jose were to lose next week and USU had won its last two games.
Now, none of that is possible. Nevada is 5-1, San Jose 4-1, USU 3-2 and Pacific 3-3. All that's left is beating Pacific next week and hoping for a second-place tie. Still a decent accomplishment in the first year of a coaching regime, but not enough when so much was within reach.
"It's a scar on my heart," said Weatherbie. "I feel for the seniors because they had the opportunity to get championship rings and let it slide through their fingers as a team."
As with the San Jose game, there were so many chances.
There was the Donald Toomer interception in the end zone with 21/2 minutes left that was nullified because he was called for pass interference. "I thought I had it. I didn't touch him," said Toomer. Ault and Vargas said Toomer climbed all over the receiver at the 10.
There was the interception chance in the end zone when Nevada's Bryan Reeves outfought two defenders for the winning TD pass - his third touchdown of the fourth quarter, his third TD reception and fourth TD of the game.
There was the mistake by freshman kick returner James Dye, who touched a kickoff well over his head and going out of bounds, pinning USU on its 3-yard line with about a minute left. " he lets the ball go out of bounds, we're on the 35," said Weatherbie. The penalty would have made Sean Jones' final field goal much shorter.
And there were three missed scoring kicks - two field goals and an extra point, any of which could have kept USU in the title race. Jones' last kick was long enough but faded slightly right to snuff the Aggies' title hopes.