In a back-and-forth battle between two Top 10 teams with aspirations for the national title, it was Boise State who came out on top, preserving the Broncos' dreams of busting the BCS stranglehold on a No. 1 spot.
Boise State's Kellen Moore fired a bullet of a pass 13 yards to Austin Pettis with just 1:14 left in the game to defeat a spirited Virginia Tech squad at FedEx Field Monday night, 33-30.
While national championship aspirations shouldn't be doused in the first week of the season, that's what would have happened had Boise State lost to the Hokies.
The Broncos, ranked No. 3 in the AP poll and No. 5 in the coaches' poll, remain in the national title hunt despite being in a non-BCS conference (the WAC). Of course, the same thing happened last year when the Broncos ran the table with a 14-0 record, yet still didn't get into the national championship game.
The Hokies gave them a run for their money Monday night. After a sluggish start that included some uncharacteristic poor special teams play, Virginia Tech roared back into the game with the help of QB Tyrod Taylor.
The Hokies found themselves down 17-0 after the first quarter and didn't register their first first down until the second quarter, but once they did, momentum soon shifted into their favor.
Ryan Williams made it 17-7 with a 1-yard run, and just a minute before the half Taylor found Williams again -- this time for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-14 going into the second half.
Sports
Williams wasn't done scoring touchdowns. He added another in the third to give the Hokies their first lead, 21-20.
Boise State got the lead right back when D.J. Harper turned a third-and-one run through the Tech defense into a 71-yard touchdown.
The touchdown may have crushed many teams in college football, but not Frank Beamer's group. Taylor, who threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 73 more yards on the night, led his team down the field again and hooked up with Jarrett Boykin on a 28-yard touchdown to take the lead back, 27-26.
Tech added a field goal midway through the fourth to build the lead to four, but that wasn't enough.
Moore generaled a five-play, 56-yard drive that culminated with his 13-yard laser to Pettis to win it.
The victory means Boise State's still in the hunt for No. 1. For Tech, it means having to regroup and learn from mistakes made at FedEx. The Hokies have two home games against James Madison and East Carolina coming up to straighten things out before heading on the road to Boston College and NC State.
