College Football

Nevada's Dameon Baber shows he's got knack for runbacks

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:09 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

AP

It was a day of happy returns for Nevada's Dameon Baber.

The junior safety scored three touchdowns on runbacks, taking two of his three interceptions and a blocked punt to the end zone against San Jose State on Saturday.

Baber scored his first TD when he scooped up a punt blocked by Wyatt Demps and went 6 yards.

The first of Baber's two interception returns for touchdowns came in the second quarter when he took it back 100 yards, breaking the 45-year-old school pick-six record of 96 yards. In the third quarter he ran back an interception 39 yards.

Baber had no return on his first interception, which came on the game's opening series.

Baber became the third player in NCAA history, and first since 2003, to score three touchdowns on returns.

Other remarkable statistical feats:

HAPPY RETURNS II

Western Michigan's Darius Phillips returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown against Kent State for the fifth pick-six of his career, tied for most in Football Bowl Subdivision history. The senior cornerback extended his FBS career record of runbacks of any kind for a TD to 12.

ICE THAT ARM

Washington State's Luke Falk set an FBS season high with 69 pass attempts against Utah. He completed 40 of them for 311 yards and two touchdowns. What would be a ridiculous of number of passes in many offenses is common for Falk in Mike Leach's ''Air Raid'' system. He's attempted more than 70 passes in three games since 2015.

POUND GROUND

Army went four quarters and an overtime between pass attempts. After throwing no passes against Air Force on Nov. 4, the Black Knights' Ahmad Bradshaw launched one in a win over Duke - a 42-yarder to Kell Walker. Before that, Army hadn't attempted a pass since Kelvin Hopkins Jr. found Jermaine Adams for a 16-yard touchdown with one second left in regulation to force overtime against Temple on Oct. 21.

THE 200 CLUB

Navy's Malcolm Perry turned in the top rushing performance of the weekend, piling up 282 yards and four touchdowns on 33 carries against SMU. Perry's big outing came in his first start at quarterback, in place of a banged-up Zach Abey. Perry had the third-most rushing yards in school history before leaving late in the fourth quarter with an apparent leg injury.

Other top rushing marks: Boise State's Alexander Mattison, 23 carries for 242 yards against Colorado State; Wake Forest's Matt Colburn II, 31 for 237 yards against Syracuse; Missouri's Ish Witter, 24 for 216 yards against Tennessee; and Arizona's Khalil Tate, 16 for 206 yards against Oregon State.

MINNESOTA NICE?

St. Thomas, the No. 4-ranked team in Division III, beat St. Olaf 97-0 for the most lopsided win in all divisions since its fellow Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member Saint John's hammered College of St. Scholastica 98-0 on Sept. 2.

The Tommies won their 28 consecutive conference game, tying Saint John's MIAC mark set from 2000-04.

---

More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

share

Get more from College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

College Football

Mountain West

Nevada Wolf Pack