COLLEGE FOOTBALL / WEEK 3 : Luck on Side of Las Vegas on Last Play

Nevada Las Vegas got an improbable break on Saturday night when Kevin Thomas returned a fumble 99 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the game in a 27-24 victory over Baylor at Waco, Texas.

Baylor, with a first down at the Las Vegas 8, was ahead, 24-21, with less than 20 seconds left and the Rebels had no timeouts. A knee to the turf after the snap would have won the game for the Bears.

But Darrel Bush, whose nine-yard touchdown run with 6:06 to go had given Baylor (0-2) the lead, took a handoff and tried to score again with a run up the middle. With Bush struggling to get into the end zone, linebackers James Sunia and Tyler Brickell converged on him, forcing a fumble at the one. Thomas picked up the ball and scampered down the left sideline untouched.

Dazed Baylor players were left kneeling on the field, some with their heads on the turf. Even officials appeared stunned at the outcome, conferring and waiting several moments before declaring Thomas’ return a touchdown.

“I think they’re all just shocked,” said John Robinson, the former USC coach in his first season at Las Vegas.

Said Baylor’s first-year coach Kevin Steele: “It was just stupid on my part. We were trying to create an attitude of toughness and we tried to hammer it in. It was one-in-a-million for something like that to happen. We played with fire and got burned.”

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Matt Newton threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns as No. 24-ranked Colorado State (2-0) was a 38-33 winner over Nevada (0-2) at Fort Collins, Colo. Nevada had 597 yards, including 429 and three touchdowns on the 35-for-52 passing of David Neill. Colorado State had 529 yards. . . . Wyoming (1-1) was a 41-16 winner over Division I-AA Weber State (1-1) at Laramie, Wyo.

EAST

Shyrone Stith rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown in a career-high 29 carries for No. 11 Virginia Tech (2-0) in a 31-10 victory over Alabama Birmingham (0-2) at Blacksburg, Va. The Hokies’ starting quarterback Michael Vick didn’t play because of an ankle injury suffered last week. . . . Marc Bulger threw for three touchdowns and redshirt freshman Avon Cobourne rushed for 142 yards for West Virginia (1-1) in a 43-27 victory over Miami of Ohio (1-1) at Morgantown, W. Va. Miami, which had its win streak end at eight games, got 163 yards in 29 carries from Travis Prentice, who also scored two touchdowns to move past Tony Dorsett into fourth place in NCAA major-college career scoring with 366 points. . . . Quinton Spotwood had touchdown receptions of 43 and 56 yards for Syracuse (2-0) in a 47-7 victory over Central Michigan (1-1) at Syracuse, N.Y.

MIDWEST

Buffalo, playing its first major-college game in 29 years, was a 17-10 loser to Akron (1-1) in a Mid-American Conference game at Amherst, N.Y. Buffalo dropped football after going 2-9 in 1970. The program was reinstated at the Division III level in 1977 and moved to I-AA in 1993. . . . Tim Lester threw five touchdown passes for Western Michigan (1-1) in a 46-28 Mid-American victory over Youngstown State (1-1) at Kalamazoo, Mich.

SOUTH

Patrick Ramsey completed 32 of 49 passes for a school-record 404 yards and three touchdowns, and JaJuan Dawson set another school record with 16 receptions--for 218 yards--for Tulane (1-1) in a 53-19 victory over Southern Methodist (0-2) at New Orleans. . . . Frank Moreau had a career-high 188 yards and four touchdowns in 19 carries for Louisville (2-0) in a 58-30 victory over Division I-AA Tennessee Chattanooga (1-1) at Louisville, Ky. . . . Tim Rattay completed 16 of 18 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns to lead Louisiana Tech (1-2) to a 55-17 victory over Sam Houston State at Ruston, La.

SOUTHWEST

K.C. Enzminger threw for four touchdowns--the last a 29-yard play to tight end Lane Grady off a fake field goal with 5:54 left--as New Mexico State (2-0) posted a 35-28 victory over New Mexico (0-2) at Albuquerque.

SOUTHLAND

Chapman had six interceptions, including three by Mark Hastings, in a season-opening 37-3 victory over Millsaps (1-1) at Jackson, Miss. . . . Ryan Hattersley had 125 yards rushing and a touchdown in 24 carries to lead Pomona-Pitzer (2-0) to a 23-8 victory over Lawrence (0-1) at Appleton, Wis. . . . Cal Lutheran (0-1) scored 20 points in the fourth quarter but fell short in a 28-26 loss to Pacific Lutheran (1-0) at Thousand Oaks. Cal Lutheran scored its final touchdown with 2:20 left on a 15-yard pass play from Chris Czernek to Eugene Sullivan, but Sullivan was called for an excessive celebration penalty that put the ball at the Pacific Lutheran 18 on the two-point conversion. A pass by Czernek was incomplete. . . . Oscar Arzu rushed for 213 yards and scored four touchdowns for San Diego (1-1) in a 40-13 victory over Whittier at San Diego.