LANDOVER, Md. —
For the third straight year, Virginia Tech didn’t escape the season’s first weekend unscathed.
Kellen Moore’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Austin Pettis with 1:09 left gave No. 3 Boise State a come-from-behind 33-30 win over the No. 10 Hokies Monday night at FedEx Field.
Tech rallied from a 17-0 first quarter deficit to take two third quarter leads, added a fourth quarter field goal by Chris Hazley, then had a chance to wrap up the game with a first down.
But Tyrod Taylor couldn’t connect with Jarrett Boykin on a 3rd-and-8 pass with just over two minutes left, followed by Mitch Burroughs’ 25-yard punt return to the Broncos’ 44.
Five plays later, Moore calmly stood in the pocket and zinged a strike to Pettis, who was running free in the back of the end zone.
Tech’s last possession failed to even register a first down. Taylor’s 4th-and-11 bomb to Boykin at the Boise State 10 hit off the big receiver’s hands and fell to the turf as the Hokies pleaded in vain for pass interference.
"Disappointing,” Hokies coach Frank Beamer said. “One first down and we put that game away. But give Boise State credit for doing a nice job of coming back.”
Last year, Tech held a 17-16 fourth quarter lead before falling 34-24 in its opener against eventual national champion Alabama. In 2008, the Hokies fell 27-22 to East Carolina on a late touchdown off a blocked punt.
Boise State hit Tech with its best shot early, aided by a slew of mistakes emcompassing every phase of the game.
Taylor fumbled the game’s second snap to Billy Winn at the 31-yard line, setting up the first of two long field goals by Kyle Brotzman 2:16 into the game.
Then Pettis burst through the right side of the Hokies’ protection scheme untouched to snuff the first punt of senior Brian Saunders’ career at the 12. Pettis then used his hands for an 8-yard TD catch two plays and a 10-0 lead at the 9:48 mark.
After a 3-and-out, Tech forced a punt but never got the ball as sophomore D.J. Coles ran into Brotzman, then committed a personal foul following the play.
The 20 yards in penalties gave the Broncos possession at the Hokies’ 32 and Moore capitalized with the help of tight end Tommy Gallarda, who made a diving one-handed TD grab despite smothering coverage by Morgan.
With 1:11 left in the quarter, Boise State was dominating and the sellout crowd of 86,587, aside from the 7,000 Bronco fans, sat in library silence.
Tech’s offense roared to life with a 67-yard scoring drive, capped by Williams’ 1-yard plunge with 11:44 remaining in the half. Taylor’s 34-yard strike to Jarrett Boykin set up the score.
After Brotzman responded with a 47-yard field goal, the Hokies stole momentum just before halftime with the help of Doug Martin’s fumble that was forced by safety Eddie Whitley — the team’s best defender all night.
Scrambling away from Boise State’s rush, Taylor flipped a 12-yard scoring strike to a diving Williams in the front right corner of the end zone with 57 seconds remaining before halftime.
Following another Bronco fumble early in the third quarter that was recovered by J.R. Collins, Tech marched 31 yards for its first lead, Williams sweeping a yard around right end to make it 21-20 at the 6:34 mark.
D.J. Harper restored the lead for Boise State less than a minute later with a tackle-breaking 71-yard TD run, but Taylor and Boykin hooked up for a 28-yard TD strike on 4th-and-5 with 2:40 remaining to take a 27-26 edge.
But Tech couldn’t make its narrow advantage stick through a tense fourth quarter.
“Just way too many costly mistakes,” Beamer said. “We can learn a lot from this.”
The Hokies have a short week to prepare for a Saturday visit from Football Championship Subdivision foe James Madison.
*****
Boise State........17 3 6 7 — 33
Virginia Tech.......0 14 13 3 — 30
First Quarter
Boi—FG Brotzman 44, 12:44.
Boi—Pettis 8 pass from Ke.Moore (Brotzman kick), 9:48.
Boi—Gallarda 2 pass from Ke.Moore (Brotzman kick), 1:11.
Second Quarter
VT—R.Williams 1 run (Hazley kick), 11:44.
Boi—FG Brotzman 47, 10:23.
VT—R.Williams 12 pass from T.Taylor (Hazley kick), :57.
Third Quarter
VT—R.Williams 1 run (Hazley kick), 6:34.
Boi—Harper 71 run (kick blocked), 5:38.
VT—Boykin 28 pass from T.Taylor (pass failed), 2:40.
Fourth Quarter
VT—FG Hazley 34, 7:38.
Boi—Pettis 13 pass from Ke.Moore (Brotzman kick), 1:09.
A—86,587.
———
Boi VT
First downs 18 21
Rushes-yards 24-168 44-128
Passing 215 186
Comp-Att-Int 23-38-0 15-22-0
Return Yards 44 0
Punts-Avg. 3-34.3 4-33.8
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1
Penalties-Yards 11-105 7-55
Time of Possession 25:40 34:20
———
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Boise St., Martin 12-83, Harper 4-80, Avery 5-26, Team 1-(minus 2), Ke.Moore 2-(minus 19). Virginia Tech, T.Taylor 16-73, R.Williams 21-44, D.Evans 3-12, D.Wilson 1-2, Oglesby 1-0, Team 1-0, Coale 1-(minus 3).
PASSING—Boise St., Ke.Moore 23-38-0-215. Virginia Tech, T.Taylor 15-22-0-186.
RECEIVING—Boise St., Young 6-80, Pettis 6-73, Shoemaker 3-20, Harper 2-7, Gallarda 2-4, Linehan 1-11, Efaw 1-10, Burroughs 1-5, Martin 1-5. Virginia Tech, Boykin 6-102, Roberts 4-27, R.Williams 2-18, M.Davis 1-24, D.Wilson 1-8, Coale 1-7.
