Boxscore

RENO, Nevada -- It was the usual Wild West shootout between Louisiana Tech and Nevada Saturday as the Bulldogs battled the Wolf Pack at Mackay Stadium.

The game's outcome was in doubt until the final seconds before the Bulldogs came away with a 42-34 win before a Nevada homecoming crowd of 21,157.

Tech now stands at 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Western Athletic Conference while Nevada falls to 5-3 and 3-1.

Nevada went up on top 34-28 in a wild fourth quarter as running back Chance Kretchemer broke free from six yards out to put the Wolf Pack in front. Nevada's PAT attempt was no good to hold the Wolf Pack lead at six with 12:04 remaining.

Louisiana Tech moved back out in front with 9:49 left as quarterback Luke McCown hit Tramissian Davis on a 30-yard scoring bullet followed by Josh Scobee's point after touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 35-34 advantage with 9:49 remaining.

Sophomore running back Ryan Moats turned out to be Tech's biggest weapon and turned in his biggest play of the day with a career-long 69-yard scoring burst with 6:13 left in the contest to give the Bulldogs the eight-point final advantage following Scobee's PAT.

"It was just a little zone run play," McCown said. "We were trying to control the clock because we were ahead. We were just trying to get first downs and Moats broke it. That is the caliber of runner he is. He can score anytime he gets his hands on it.

Moats recorded a career-high three touchdowns with 199 yards on 31 rushing attempts in the contest.

"Ryan is special," Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. "He's one of those guys you just have to keep giving the ball to beause he can make big plays. That's what he did today."

The last two games Moats has totaled 362 yards in the second half.

"I'm telling you, he's going to be one the best runing backs in the country by his senior year," McCown said. "He's a hard runner, a smart runner. And the more mature he gets, the better he will get."

Nevada had three more drives to try and tie things up, and on the first two failed to move past its own 31 yardline.

Tech looked to have wrapped things up on Nevada's second drive after the Bulldogs' final score when Corey Brazil picked off his second pass of the season with 1:56 remaining to give the ball back to the 'Dogs at the Nevada 16 yardline.

But in the Tech-Nevada series, nothing should be taken for granted.

"We were playing a soft man (defense) and I just baited their quarterback," Brazil said. "I saw him looking my way and I just jumped the route."

The Bulldogs were trying to run the clock out when Nevada forced a McCown fumble and recovered to give the Wolf Pack the ball at their own seven yardline with 32 seconds remaining. Nevada managed to drive to its own 42 yardline before Tech's Michael Johnson broke up a fourth-and-two pass attempt with eight seconds remaining to sercure the victory for the 'Dogs.

"We've had so much adversity," Bicknell said. "We've been playing tough and coming up just barely short. To come in here and get down like we did; no one panicked and we were able to come back. It's unbelievable and showed great character by our team."

Tech's eight-point margin of victory was the most ever in a series that before the contest averaged a 46.7 - 46 Tech win in the four-game series that Tech now leads 3-1.

The Wolf Pack gained 538 total yards while Tech picked up 490 with McCown connecting on 23-of-34 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns through the air.

Nevada quarterback Andy Heiser hit on 18-of-36 attempts for 315 yards with one interception.

Shawn Piper led Tech receivers with eight catches for 61 yards while Tramissian Davis and D.J. Curry each caught touchdowns for the Bulldogs.

Nevada tried to shoot down Tech early on and utilized and little trickery on a fake field goal in doing so. The Wolf Pack opened scoring as B.J. Mitchell found paydirt on a two-yard run as Nevada lined up in field goal formation before shifting into an offensive set for the score at the 11:40 mark of the opening period. Chance Kretschmer's one-yard plunge with 1:36 left in the first quarter pushed the Pack out to a 14-0 advantage.

Tech picked up its first score on a 24-yard field goal with 14:49 remaining in the first half, but Nevada countered with a 22-yard scoring scamper by Talib Wise as the Wolf Pack stretched their lead to 21-3 at the 13:48 mark of the second quarter.

That's when the Bulldogs reloaded as Tech followed with a one-yard touchdown run from Ryan Moats at the 6:56 mark of the quarter and a 39-yard Scobee field goal to cut the Nevada lead to 21-13 at intermission.

Tech tied things up early in the third quarter as McCown hit Curry on a four-yard scoring pass followed by a two-point conversion pass from McCown to Davis.

The Bulldogs pulled out in front 28-21 on a one-yard touchdown run by Moats with 7:52 left in the third quarter, but the Wolf Pack countered with a B.J. Mitchell five-yard run to tie things up at 28-28 with eight seconds left in the third, setting up the wild fourth-quarter finish.

Tech returns to action next Saturday as the Bulldogs take on LSU in a 7 p.m. contest at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.