BOSTON (AP) – Boston College took another late hit from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Eagles lost 32-28 to Wake Forest after leading 21-12 going into the final quarter Saturday. Cory Randolph’s 43-yard touchdown pass with 1:47 left gave the Demon Deacons the victory.

“We had too many mistakes to give ourselves a chance to win,” BC coach Tom O’Brien said.

They included 14 penalties, three turnovers and a fumble with 48 seconds left that ended the Eagles chances. It was a tough start to a season that followed a tumultuous offseason.

In late June, the ACC changed its plan to add Big East teams Boston College and Syracuse and chose Virginia Tech instead, starting in the 2004 season. The ACC already had decided to add Miami from the Big East.

“We don’t worry about ACC or Big East,” Randolph said. “We focus on playing them (the Eagles). For the fans, they probably look at it differently.”

Just as BC’s early hopes of switching conferences faded, they disappeared after taking a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Trailing 28-25, Wake Forest got the ball with 2:24 left. Just thirty-seven seconds later, Randolph ended a 75-yard drive with his pass to Chris Davis. BC missed an excellent opportunity on the first play of the drive when Jazzmen Williams had a good shot at an interception.

But three running backs were hurt in the first half. Dominic Anderson didn’t return after hurting his knee, and Cornelius Birgs and Chris Barclay played with sprained ankles.

The Eagles weren’t finished after trailing 28-25.

Starting at the 50 after the kickoff, they moved to a second-and-2 at the Wake Forest 24. But former Portland High School star Quinton Porter fumbled the snap, picked the ball up and threw a pass that was batted back at him. Rather than knock the ball down for an incompletion, he caught it and it was jarred loose for a fumble that was recovered by Dion Williams, ending BC’s chances.

“I didn’t want to try to catch it,” Porter said after his first start for BC. “I know I can run the offense.”

The Eagles had taken a 14-0 lead on touchdown passes of 8 yards from Porter to David Kashetta and 16 yards from Paul Peterson to Sean Ryan. Warren Braxton’s 53-yard fumble return made it 14-6 at halftime and another big play by Wake Forest, a 75-yard run on a reverse by Willie Idlette, cut the lead to 14-12 early in the third quarter.

Then a mistake by the Demon Deacons allowed the Eagles to go up 21-12. With a third down at the Wake Forest 9, Porter threw an incompletion but a defensive pass interference penalty gave BC the ball at the 2. On the next play, Porter ran in for the touchdown.

Porter went 22-for-39 for 243 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

, while Knight gained 144 yards on 30 carries.

Wake Forest started cutting into the lead when Birgs scored on a 25-yard run, making it 21-19 with 13:56 left in the game. It went ahead for the first time with 6:44 remaining on a 4-yard pass from Randolph to Jason Anderson after Will Blackmon’s fumble on a kickoff return was recovered by Wake Forest.

“This was an example of beating yourselves,” Blackmon said. “We knew we were able to control Wake Forest.”

The Eagles got the ball back with 6:35 left and marched 89 yards to a 5-yard touchdown run by Derrick Knight with 2:24 remaining, going up 28-25.

But Wake Forest, outgained 186 yards to 46 in the first half, had one last drive. Randolph completed four of his five passes on it, capped by Davis’ winning catch.

For BC, Porter went 22-for-39 for 243 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, while Knight gained 144 yards on 30 carries.

AP-ES-08-30-03 1818EDT