Virginia Tech defeats Georgia Tech, 17-10

Logan Thomas passed and ran for touchdowns in the first half, Virginia Tech’s defense shut down Georgia Tech’s running game and the Hokies beat the Yellow Jackets, 17-10, on Thursday night in Atlanta.

Thomas completed 19 of 25 passes for 221 yards and a touchdown and had 16 carries for 58 yards and a touchdown. Virginia Tech (4-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) earned its fourth straight win over Georgia Tech (3-1, 2-1).

Virginia Tech’s defense, led by tackle Derrick Hopkins, stopped running back David Sims on back-to-back plays, including a fourth-and-two run midway through the fourth quarter.

Cody Journell was wide left on a 25-yard field goal for Virginia Tech with 5 minutes 37 seconds remaining to keep Georgia Tech’s hopes alive. Kendall Fuller intercepted Vad Lee’s fourth-down pass from near midfield to clinch the win.

Georgia Tech’s fourth-ranked rushing offense was held to 129 yards — more than 200 yards below its average.

Iowa State wins

Sam Richardson completed 26 of 41 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and Aaron Wimberly ran for 137 yards in 19 carries to help visiting Iowa State beat Tulsa, 38-21.

Jeff Woody had three one-yard touchdown runs, and the Cyclones took advantage of four Golden Hurricane turnovers to improve to 1-2. Tulsa dropped to 1-3.

Etc.

Michigan State granted Alabama’s request to drop two future meetings from the schedule. The Crimson Tide asked to cancel games scheduled for 2016 and 2017. Alabama Athletic Director Bill Battle said the school made the request because of “the uncertainty of the conference football schedule in those years.” The Southeastern Conference hasn’t ruled out a move to a nine-game league schedule since the expansion to 14 teams. ... Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said quarterback Brandon Allen remained questionable for the Razorbacks’ game Saturday against Texas A&M. Allen injured his throwing shoulder two weeks ago against Southern Mississippi and missed last week’s loss to Rutgers. ... Florida State starting safety Tyler Hunter will be held out of Saturday’s game against Boston College with a neck injury. ... The city of Atlanta said it would bid for college football’s 2018 national championship game, which would be held in its new downtown retractable roof stadium. Construction on the stadium is scheduled to begin shortly after deals were reached with two historic churches that must be moved. It will open in the spring of 2017.