Nevada kicked a field goal with 1:53 left to play in the New Mexico Bowl to take a 13 point lead. It looked like the Wolfpack would find themselves victorious in the first bowl game of the season as Arizona was left with no timeouts.
Nevada put the kickoff through the end zone so Arizona would have to go 80 yards in 1:48 just to pull within one score. On the first play of the drive, Matt Scott hit his receiver on a slant for no gain but the receiver fumbled the ball and it took a fortuitous bounce to a teammate. That teammate picked it up, gained a few yards and more importantly got out of bounds stopping the clock. Arizona worked it's way down the field and had another stroke of luck when they had a running play stopped short of a first down but the clock stopped because a Nevada defender got hurt. After two pass interference calls, the Wildcats cut the lead to six points as Matt Scott hit Austin Hill with 42 seconds left in the game.
When the other team is expecting an on-side kick, you need a lot help to recover it. Nevada gave them that as the ball hit Nevada's Duke Williams after it bounced off the turf. Williams couldn't handle it and Arizona recovered. This gave Matt Scott and the Wildcats the ball on their own 49 yard line with 39 seconds left in the game. Scott immediately hit his receiver for a 25 yard pass down inside the 30 and then hit another pass down to the two yard line with 22 seconds left. With Nevada on their heels, Scott completed his third straight pass of the drive for a touchdown and put a dagger through the Wolfpack's dreams.
Arizona fell behind 21-0, had teammates fighting on the sideline, gave up 403 yards rushing to Nevada and 659 yards of total offense. Somehow, they overcame all of that and scored 14 points in the final 1:48 to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and kick off bowl the season the way it should be kicked off. With a slobberknocker of a finish to the first game.
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