DUBLIN — As the seconds ticked down on the play clock late in the fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon, Boston College coach Steve Addazio and Georgia Tech counterpart Paul Johnson were essentially playing a game of chicken with their timeouts.

BC was clinging to a 14-10 lead, and had drained the clocked from 5:57 to 4:30 by running Jon Hilliman up the gut two times. But the Eagles only managed to get a yard out of it.

“We made a decision that we were going to try to run this rock a little bit, kill this clock down,’’ Addazio said.

Johnson didn’t flinch. He let the clock tick.

A botched snap on third down forced quarterback Patrick Towles to fall on the ball in front of the line of scrimmage. It also forced Addazio’s hand.

He sent out the punt team, wrung every second out of the play clock until there was just 3:39 left in the game, before finally calling a timeout.

“I took a timeout there to try to get as much clock as we could,’’ Addazio said. “Our goal at that point was to take as much time off the clock as we could, punt the ball, and let our defense win the game. We thought that was the right strategy at this point. We wanted our defense to have the game in their hand at the end. Period. And that’s what we did.’’

With all but three of Georgia Tech’s nine possessions up to that point being three-and-outs, Addazio had every reason to put his trust in a defense that was tops in the country a year ago and was trying to shake off the demons of a winless Atlantic Coast Conference schedule in 2015.

But Addazio didn’t think that last year’s demons would follow the Eagles all the way to Ireland.

The Yellow Jackets put together an 11-play, 59-yard drive in three minutes, kept alive by a fourth-and-19 conversion on a 22-yard pass from Justin Thomas to Qua Searcy, and punctuated by a 4-yard touchdown run by Dedrick Mills that dealt the Eagles­ a 17-14 loss.

After spending the majority of last year swallowing bitter pills, the Eagles got another dose of disappointment to start their season.

“Bitterly disappointed,’’ Addazio said. “We had it right in our grasp.’’

The Eagles came in looking to put an immediate end to a run of eight straight losses to ACC rivals­. They left counting missed opportunities and untimely lapses­.

Even though the Eagles had more total yards (352) and first downs (15) and held the Yellow Jackets to 2.8 yards per rushing attempt, Georgia Tech made key plays and BC made costly ones.

“We played great all day,’’ Addazio said. “As I said to the team earlier, we’re not interested in stats. The ultimate thing is to win the game. It’s not OK to say we were great on 36 out of 40 plays, except for those four, because those four can cost you the game.’’

Georgia Tech kept drives alive by converting 6 of 14 third-down attempts and both of their fourth-down attempts. On the first drive of the game alone, the Yellow Jackets completed a 14-yard pass on third and 15, converted the fourth and 1, then converted a third-and-12 try to set up 3-yard run by Matthew Jordan for a 7-0 lead.

Meanwhile, BC didn’t do itself any favors. Twice the Eagles found themselves in the red zone looking for a field goal, and sophomore kicker Colton Lichtenberg came up empty. He had his first attempt blocked by Rod Rook-Chungong, and saw his second nick the upright as it sailed wide left.

“The tale of this game was two missed opportunities in the red zone, two field goals missed, and about four plays on defense — really it was about four, but those four were costly plays that got them out of three third-and-longs and one fourth and 20,’’ said Addazio.

Close losses haunted the Eagles­ a year ago, and it was something Towles wanted to turn around when he transferred from Kentucky in the offseason.

“I know for a fact that this football team will win a lot of football games this year,’’ said Towles, who completed 11 of 17 passes for 176 yards to go with 27 yards on nine rushes, including a 6-yard touchdown. “It’s not going to be more of the same. We’ll continue to work hard like we have and I have no doubt that we’re going to be ready to go on Saturday.’’

Hilliman ran for 102 yards, breaking loose for a 73-yard score to start the second half. But the Eagles failed to shut the door on the Yellow Jackets.

“You’ve got to finish games,’’ Hilliman said. “Six-minute offense, one-minute offense. It just comes down to practice, whatever it is.’’

The Eagles haven’t won an ACC game since beating Syracuse in the regular-season finale in 2014. The loss stings, but Addazio said he hoped it wouldn’t linger with his team facing a road game against UMass next Saturday, then another ACC test at Virginia Tech in two weeks.

“We’ve got a great group of guys. It’s not going to affect them,’’ Addazio said. “It’s going to affect them today. We’re all ripped apart. But I mean, big picture-wise, we’ve got to get back to work, get home, and get ready to play UMass.

“Yeah, these things hurt you. They hurt you. They’re real body blows. But come on now. We’re tougher than that. We pride ourselves on that. This game is unforgiving. This game will slap you right in the face. You’ve got to be tough enough to take it and move forward.’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.