BLACKSBURG -- Defensive coordinator Bud Foster has a strong message for the multitudes who seem to be blaming Virginia Tech's 14-10 loss to Boston College on Thursday on the Hokies' going to a late-game prevent defense.

"If everybody wants to know, there was no prevent defense," a defiant Foster told reporters Sunday. "Anyone saying that doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. That's why they're fans and we coach, OK?"

Down 10-0 with 4:16 left in the game, second-ranked BC rallied behind the arm of quarterback Matt Ryan for two touchdowns on its final two possessions to stun the Hokies.

Reviving his Heisman Trophy hopes, as well as keeping the Eagles unbeaten and in the national title hunt, Ryan completed nine of 13 passes for 157 yards on the two drives of 92 and 66 yards.

His final pass -- a scrambling, throw-back-across-the-field rainbow to tailback Andre Callender in the deep, right corner of the end zone -- with 11 seconds left was the game-deciding play.

Until BC's final two drives, Tech's defense had lived in Ryan's face. He was 16-for-40 passing for 127 yards, and was intercepted twice on the Eagles' first 12 possessions.

After BC pulled to 10-7 on Ryan's 16-yard TD pass to Rich Gunnell with 2:11 left, and then recovered a subsequent onside kick misplayed by Tech's Josh Morgan, the Hokies went exclusively with a three-man rush, except for one play in which they blitzed. Ryan was 5-for-7 passing for 76 yards on the drive.

"Probably cause they saw us rush three people," responded Foster, when asked why many Tech fans had thought he had gone to a "prevent" mode. "But we did that all night, too, if everybody paid attention. We did that all night, too, on about 12 occasions."

When asked, if in hindsight, would he have preferred to have rushed four on BC's final drive, Foster said: "Well, in hindsight, yeah. Maybe in one last call. I mean I ran pressure and [Ryan] stepped away from the pressure. There's a lot of things that go into it. It wasn't a prevent defense. They were in field-goal range, it was third-and-20, and we were going to hopefully -- we did it all night, make [Ryan] have to check down -- stop them and have a chance to block a field goal, or it was going to go into overtime.

"Then the kid made a hell of a play. He scrambled and we lost contain. That's the biggest thing, we lost contain. It wasn't that it was a prevent defense, we lost contain. And the quarterback stepped up, made a scramble and made a nice play."

Foster said he couldn't have asked for more effort from his players.

"The quarterback had been sacked six times in seven games and we knocked the hell out of him, we did whatever we wanted to do," Foster said. "The quarterback is a hell of a player. He made a couple of plays that I didn't think he could make down the stretch.

"I told our guys in our meeting that I was never more proud of a group. They executed the plan. They played their tails off. Now, I'm disappointed for the loss. But didn't nobody die! And we're still in the hunt [in the ACC]. So we're moving forward."

Taylor's ankle improved

Tech coach Frank Beamer said Monday that he won't name his starting quarterback for Thursday's ACC game at Georgia Tech until Wednesday, at the earliest. Freshman Tyrod Taylor, who missed the BC game with a high right ankle sprain, has taken the No. 2 QB reps in practice the past two days behind Sean Glennon.

"Yes, I do feel like I can play Thursday," Taylor said following Sunday's practice. "I'm still going to treatment twice a day. I figure I was in the low 80s-percent range last week, but I'm up in the 90s and feeling pretty good right now."

Tech tidbits

In regard to Glennon, who was 15-for-25 passing for 149 yards and a TD vs. BC, Beamer said: "I thought Sean managed the game very well. There were a couple of throws you'd liked to have been a little more where the guy could catch it and run with it, but overall I thought Sean played well." ... With Virginia's loss to North Carolina State on Saturday, Tech still controls its destiny in the ACC's Coastal Division race. If the Hokies win their final four regular-season games, they win the division. "You get down this late in the year and you've got a chance to do that and play for the ACC championship, it's a lot to play for," Beamer said. ... The Hokies shouldn't mind going to Atlanta. Since joining the ACC in 2004, Tech is 10-4 at home and 13-1 on the road. ... Virginia Tech's Nov. 10 home game with Florida State will air at 3:30 p.m. on ABC, including WSET (Channel 13).