Virginia Tech routs Maryland

Bryan Randall threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score Thursday night, helping Virginia Tech move closer to a Bowl Championship Series game with a 55-6 rout of Maryland at Blackburg, Va.

One night after his mother died, coach Frank Beamer guided the No. 15 Hokies to their sixth consecutive victory, keeping them alone in first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Jimmy Williams returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown, and Mike Imoh ran for two scores before leaving with a hamstring injury. Playing its first season in the ACC, Virginia Tech (8-2, 5-1) can wrap up the conference title and a lucrative BCS berth with wins against No. 18 Virginia and at No. 12 Miami.

The Hokies scored 24 points off four first-half turnovers and yielded little on defense. They turned an interception and a fumble recovery into touchdown drives of 29 and 17 yards to lead 14-0 after 4 minutes.

Things never got better for the Terrapins (4-6, 2-5), whose hopes of winning their last two games to qualify for a bowl were gone by halftime, when they trailed 41-3.

Beamer said his 86-year-old mother, Herma, would have wanted him to coach Virginia Tech to a victory, so he joined his team on the sideline.

The Hokies made it look easy right from the start.

On Maryland’s first series, Joel Statham’s third pass was intercepted by James Griffin and returned 11 yards to the Terrapins 29. Imoh did the rest, carrying on five straight plays, the first a 21-yard run, the last a 1-yard touchdown dive on fourth-and-goal.

North Texas 31, Arkansas St. 7

Even without star running back Jamario Thomas, North Texas had little trouble rolling to a 31-7 win over Arkansas State at Jonesboro, Ark.

Scott Hall passed for three touchdowns and Thomas’ sub, James Mitchell, ran for 166 yards and a TD as the Mean Green extended their conference winning streak to a nation-leading 25 games.

Thomas, the nation’s leading rusher who is 155 yards short of breaking Ron Dayne’s Division I-A freshman rushing record of 1,863 yards, missed the game with a hamstring injury.

North Texas (7-4, 7-0), winners of the Sun Belt Conference, will play in the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 14, giving Thomas one more chance for the record.

Arkansas State finished the season at 3-8, 3-4. The Indians turned the ball over three times.

Hall had 200 yards passing and 21 yards rushing.

North Texas led 14-0 at the half, with Hall connecting with Andy Blount for a 25-yard TD pass and Mitchell scoring from 3 yards out.

Arkansas State made it 14-7 on Gary Vincent’s 4-yard run. But Hall hit Johnny Quinn on a 1-yard scoring pass to make it 21-7.

Hall then hit Quinn on a 5-yard TD pass and Nick Bazaluda kicked a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.

“Jamario went out and warmed up and wanted to go very badly,” North Texas coach Darrell Dickey said. “But he didn’t feel like he could push off and didn’t know if he could be as productive as he wanted.”

Thomas, who ran for 200 or more yards in each of his last five games to match an NCAA record, was injured in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win over Idaho and was listed as questionable all week.

Ohio fires coach after four seasons

Ohio University coach Brian Knorr was fired after leading the Bobcats to an 11-35 record in four seasons.

Ohio had a 4-7 mark this season. The Bobcats opened the season 3-2 but then dropped five of their last six games. Ohio went 2-10 in 2003.

Knorr was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in December 2000.