MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech tailback Ryan Williams (34) dives for a touchdown past the Boise State defense in the second quarter. Williams was held in check by the Broncos defense, but the redshirt sophomore scored three touchdowns.

KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech rover Davon Morgan is unable to stop a 2-yard touchdown catch by Boise State tight end Tommy Gallarda (85) during the first quarter. Third-ranked Boise State took an early 17-0 lead.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer reacts to a penalty that gives Boise State a first down on the last drive of the game Monday.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore exchanges high-fives with fans after the Broncos rallied in the final 69 seconds for the win.

LANDOVER, Md. -- On the brink of producing the biggest comeback victory in Frank Beamer's 24 years as coach, 10th-ranked Virginia Tech watched it fade away. Quarterback Kellen Moore hit Austin Pettis for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 69 seconds left to lift No. 3 Boise State to a 33-30 victory at sold-out FedEx Field on Monday night.

While the cardiac kids from Idaho won their 27th straight regular-season game dating to 2007, the Hokies lost their season opener for a third consecutive year. This loss, however, was much more bitter to swallow.

Tech seemingly had one of the biggest victories in program history in the bag. The Hokies had rallied from a 17-0 first-quarter deficit -- Tech's previous biggest comeback victory in the Beamer era was a 15-point fourth-quarter come-from behind win at Virginia in 1995 -- and led 30-26 after Chris Hazley's 34-yard field goal with 7:38 left to play.

After stopping Boise State on its next drive, the Hokies gained possession with 5:14 left and made one first down. But Boise toughened on defense and quarterback Tyrod Taylor decided to throw long on third-and-8 from his own 33 with 2:06 left. Taylor's deep shot down the right sideline was long over the outstretched arms of receiver Jarrett Boykin.

Forced to punt, Tech's Brian Saunders got off a 48-yard boot to the BSU 19, where Mitch Burroughs fielded the ball and returned it to the 44.

With 1:47 remaining, Moore brought his offense onto the field. The smooth left-hander drove his club down the field, hitting four of his final five passes. The big one was a 14-yarder to Pettis to the Hokies' 26. Tech linebacker Bruce Taylor, making his first college start, was called for a personal foul for a late hit on Pettis as he went out of bounds in front of the Boise bench.

Two plays later on first down at the BSU 13, Moore found Pettis on a right-to-left cross across the end zone for the game-winning TD. Linebacker Jeron Gouveia-Winslow appeared to be the defender beaten on the play.

"For it to come down to one play like that, it really hits you. It hits you down there," said Tech safety Eddie Whitley, pointing to his heart. "It just came down to one play. It wasn't like it was a blowout, like they were that much better than us. We fought and it just came down to that one play.

"We had some missed assignments. That was on the players.

"We've got to bounce back. We've still got a long season. Anything can happen."

Tech got the ball back on its 35 with 62 seconds left, but couldn't answer. Taylor, who had enjoyed a strong night until the final two drives, went incomplete, was sacked for a 1-yard loss, incomplete and incomplete in the Hokies' final four snaps.

Hokies star tailback Ryan Williams, who scored three of Tech's four TDs but otherwise was held to 44 yards on 21 carries by Boise's stiff defense, said he was surprised at the final outcome.

"Talent-wise I felt like we had the upper hand," he said. "But they were more disciplined and they prepared better than us. When you stop our running game ... it's pretty hard to get into the groove of things. That's why we were kind of shaky all day."

A crowd of 86,587, the large majority of them backing the Hokies, filed for the exits in stunned disbelief. They thought the Hokies had finally gotten a major win on their resume. Tech fell to 1-26 all time against top-five opponents.

''Bottom line, we were one first down away from putting the game away. Close, but we didn't quite get it,'' Beamer said. ''I give Boise State credit. They did a nice job of coming back. We just made too many mistakes. We made too many critical mistakes to beat a top-five football team.''

Moore was 23-for-38 passing for 215 yards and three TDs. Doug Martin paced BSU's running game with 83 yards. The Broncos finished with a 383-314 edge in total yards.

Taylor was 15-for-22 passing for 186 yards and two TDs. He also rushed for 73 yards on 16 carries. Boykin had six receptions for 102 yards.

Many of the Tech students didn't converge on the stadium from the parking lots until 15-20 minutes before kickoff. Once inside the building, the raucous throng was quickly sobered when Boise scored twice in the first 5:12 to jump to a 10-0 lead.

Taylor fumbled the snap on the second play of the game's first offensive series, leading to a 44-yard field by Boise State's Kyle Brotzman. After Tech went three-and-out on its second offensive series, Pettis blew off the left edge of the line of scrimmage untouched and blocked the first career punt by Tech's Brian Saunders. Boise took over at the Hokies' 12, and two plays later made it 10-0 on Moore's 8-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Pettis in the middle of the end zone.

After Tech failed to move the ball again on its third series, another special teams gaffe by the Hokies kept a Boise drive alive. Punt rusher D.J. Coles was called for two penalties -- running into the punter and a personal foul after racing back down field in coverage -- to give the Broncos a first down at the Tech 32. Seven plays later, Moore lobbed a high pass in the left corner of the end zone, where tight end Tommy Gallarda made a superb one-handed catch for a 2-yard TD that jacked Boise's lead to 17-0 with 1:11 left in the first quarter.

Tech's offense, which had all of five total yards and one first down in the opening 15 minutes, finally started moving the ball in the second quarter.

Led by Taylor, who was 5-for-5 passing 93 yards in the quarter, the Hokies marched 67 yards in nine plays to finally get on the board, with Williams scoring a 1-yard TD run to cut it to 17-7.

After Brotzman's 47-yard field goal put BSU back ahead 20-7, Tech was able to close to 20-14 with 57 seconds left in the half on Taylor's 12-yard scoring pass to Williams. The 39-yard drive had been set up a fumble by Martin at the Broncos' 39 that was forced by Eddie Whitley and recovered by Lyndell Gibson.

Tech took its first lead 21-20 on Williams' 1-yard run with 6:34 left in the third quarter. The teams then swapped TDs to close the third quarter with Tech leading 27-26.