RENO (AP) — Brandon Talton kicked a 45-yard field goal with :03 seconds left in the game and Nevada used two defensive touchdowns to fend off San Jose State 27-24 in Mountain West Conference play on Saturday.
Nevada (7-2, 4-1) got on the scoreboard first when Jordan Lee caused a Tyler Nevens fumble that was picked up by Daiyan Henley and returned 55 yards for a touchdown.
San Jose State (5-5, 3-3) answered with Nick Starkel’s 5-yard TD pass to Nevens, knotting the score at 7 after one quarter.
The Wolf Pack regained the lead 3:05 into the third quarter when Berdale Robins picked off a Starkel pass and raced 75 yards for a touchdown.
Nevada stretched its lead to 17-7 on a 51-yard field goal by Talton before Starkel fired a 48-yard scoring strike to Malikhi Miller to get the Spartans within three points heading to the final quarter.
Matt Mercurio’s 34-yard field goal knotted the score at 17 with 10:05 left in the game, but Carson Strong delivered a 20-yard scoring strike to Romeo Doubs to put Nevada up 24-17.
Starkel directed a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended with his 2-yard TD toss to Derrick Deese Jr. to tie the game at 24 with 1:47 remaining. Strong connected with Melquan Stovall for a 12-yard gain on fourth-and-9 to keep the Nevada drive alive and set up Talton’s game-winning kick.
Strong completed 36 of 54 passes for 314 yards with two interceptions for the Wolf Pack.
Starkel completed 21 of 40 passes for 255 yards for the Spartans. Nevens rushed for 116 yards on 14 carries, while Jermaine Braddock caught six passes for 138 yards.
