Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer leaves the sidelines following the Hokies' 34-24 loss to Alabama on Saturday night in Atlanta's Georgia Dome. The fifth-ranked Crimson Tide, which went 12-0 in the regular season in 2008, beat an ACC opponent in Atlanta for the second consecutive season.

Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy (left) crosses paths with Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor following the Crimson Tide's 34-24 victory at the Georgia Dome on Saturday night.

Virginia Tech's defense celebrate a second-quarter interception during Saturday's game against Alabama at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The Hokies took a 17-16 lead into halftime and kept that lead into the fourth quarter, but were outscored over the final 15 minutes 18-7 and lost their season opener for the second straight season.

ATLANTA -- Forget about making a magic-carpet ride to Pasadena for the BCS National Championship game, Hokies.

In a loss that all but eliminates it from the national title chase, No. 7 Virginia Tech watched No. 5 Alabama explode for 18 points in the fourth quarter and lost 34-24 in front of 74,954 fans at the Georgia Dome on Saturday night.

The loss continued Tech's futility against teams ranked in the Associated Press' top 5. The Hokies fell to 1-25 all time -- 0-21 away from Blacksburg -- against top-5 opponents.

The Hokies had a shot to end their misery against that lot and put themselves in a position to possibly make a run for the Jan. 7 title game.

They led 17-16 early in the fourth quarter before the Crimson Tide took over the game, scoring 18 points in a six-minute span early in the final quarter to take control.

Quarterback Greg McElroy's 18-yard touchdown pass to running back Mark Ingram with 6:35 left sealed Alabama's 11th win in 12 meetings with Tech.

Ingram also ran for a 6-yard touchdown with 12:23 left in the game to enable 'Bama to take the lead for good. Ingram finished with 150 yards rushing on 26 carries.

McElroy completed 15-of-30 passes for 230 yards as the Tide rolled up 180 yards on 20 snaps in the fourth quarter and finished with 498 total yards. Tech finished with a paltry 155 total yards.

"We just didn't play well enough to match them," Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "That team on the other side, I think they're about as good as it gets."

Tech's defense didn't play as badly as the numbers look. Thanks in large part to the inefficiency of Tech's offense, Bud Foster's bunch was forced to spend 37 minutes on the field and appeared to run out of gas in final 12 minutes.

"We played too many plays on defense," Beamer said. "That No. 22 [Ingram] was hard to bring down. It's been a long time since a guy got that many yards against us. And a lot of times on third down, we didn't get off the field."

The Hokies were hurt by a pair of miscues on special teams -- a muffed punt by Ryan Williams and a fumbled kickoff by Davon Morgan that led to Alabama points. Williams, though, was Tech's best offensive player, running for 71 yards on 13 carries.

"I had hopes of being a national champion," Willliams said. "We never know. [Florida] lost a game last year and ended up being national champions. We've just got to bounce back. We've got 13 games left."

Williams said the Tech offense has "a lot of work to do."

"We've got a lot of work to do offensive line-wise, wide receiver-wise, communicating-wise. Even running the ball -- we've got to make bigger plays and we've got to be more consistent."

Quarterback Tyrod Taylor was 9-for-20 for 91 yards. He was under duress from the Tide's nasty defense and was sacked five times.

Jake Johnson and Barquell Rivers, Tech's two first-year starting linebackers, led the defense with 13 and 11 tackles, respectively.

"It was just mental mistakes we made," Johnson said. "We have a good defense. We've got a lot of talent. We can get a lot better. It's just a starting point right now, but I think we can be a real tremendous defense."

Redshirt freshman Antoine Hopkins, a backup defensive tackle, played well for the Hokies, making an interception that led to a 28-yard field goal by Matt Waldron that put Tech ahead 10-9 midway in the second quarter. Defensive end Jason Worilds pressured McElroy on the pick.

"They had a good offense, but I thought it would be a closer game than that," Hopkins said.

Despite being outgained by more than triple, the Hokies somehow managed to lead 17-16 after an entertaining, back-and-forth first half. Tech managed only 68 total yards in the half, including minus-5 yards rushing on 17 attempts.

Dyrell Roberts' 98-yard kickoff return with 6:35 left in the first quarter got Tech jump-started and erased a 6-0 Alabama lead. After the two teams swapped a pair of field goals, leaving Tech ahead 10-9, Alabama went back in front 16-10 on Roy Upchurch's 19-yard TD run with 3:09 left in the second quarter.

But Tech answered before intermission, thanks in large part from Alabama defensive penalties.

After a pass interference on Tide cornerback Marquis Johnson enabled the Hokies to convert a third-and-10 at midfield, Taylor found a wide-open Williams on a wheel route down the right side for a 43-yard gain to the Tide's 5-yard line. Then after Taylor lost 14 yards on an errant pitch in which he recovered the ball, Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain was called for a personal foul away from the play, then drew an unsportsmanlike conduct for making contact with an official.

That left the ball at 'Bama's 4. Three plays later, Williams scored from the 1 to give Tech the lead again with 1:02 before halftime.