Down 49-14, Nevada Scores 55-49 Victory : Big Sky: Wolf Pack scores 41 unanswered points in second half against Weber State to improve record to 9-0.

RENO, Nev. —  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 three-yard scoring 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.

Nevada will move up to Division I-A next season and be a member of the Big West 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, 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 a little more than two quarters, and Singleton had eight receptions for 225 yards in the game.

Singleton’s 225 yards were 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 (Martin) 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’ eight-yard pass to Darrell King and an 11-yard toss to Joe King, making it 49-27.

Four minutes into the final quarter, Vargas scored on a nine-yard run,

Smith then scored the final three touchdowns of the game, including his final two within 31 seconds of one another to cap the record comeback.