Geno Smith, West Virginia Play With A Chip On The Shoulder

Sep 1, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith (12) after defeating the Marshall Thundering Herd 69-34 at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-US PRESSWIRE

There’s a chip on West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith’s shoulder. He may be the hottest name in all college football right now, captaining the Mountaineer offense to 53 points per game through the first month of 2012 and fresh off his second 70-point output in five games. Smith is skyrocketing up draft boards, his stats are on the tip of every pundits’ tongue, and when it comes to the Heisman, well — there hasn’t been more of a sure thing pairing since Nicollette Sheridan and John Cusack.

So why the chip? Pretty simple: Smith knows the reality of being the It player of the moment.

“I’m not caught up into the hype. If I do poorly the next game…the story line is ‘Geno failed,'” Smith said on Tuesday, just three afternoons removed from torching Baylor for 656 yards and eight touchdowns.

For a quarterback with 20 touchdowns, zero interceptions and a completion percentage over 80, it would be easy to assume the good times will just continue to roll. But Smith’s absolutely right. Bandwagons empty quickly, and for Smith’s to fill, another had to clear.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley had a red carpet rolled out before him to the Downtown Athletic Club’s podium less than a month ago. The carpet was pulled out from under Barkley to make way for Smith.

That fickle nature of media is fueling Smith’s competitive fire, a fire that he referenced numerous times. Without naming names, Smith talked about the coronations of others while West Virginia was ignored before the season.

“My production’s been there and it’s obvious [in the stats],” he said. “Media has certain teams it favors. [But] I’ve had the same confidence freshman year, sophomore year, junior year [as now].”

Smith has taken the field with the same swagger well before the nation turned its eyes on him, and he says he will after the spotlight dims. The same is true for the other contributors to the explosive Mountaineer offense, but they have taken previous negligence as a show of disrespect and the chip on their shoulder grows.

Take the wide receiving corps. Leading up to 2012, Barkley’s walk to the Heisman Trophy was backed with an entourage, a group of receivers crowned college football’s best. Smith’s targets? Afterthoughts.

“[Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey] were not mentioned among the top receiving corps in the nation,” Smith said. That, he added, had Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey “pissed off.”

“That fire I talked about,” Smith said. “That’s burning inside them.”

The duo took any frustration it may have had out on Baylor’s secondary, combining for 528 yards and seven touchdowns on Saturday. Bailey and Austin rank Nos. 2 and 3 in the Bowl Subdivision for receiving yards per game.

Quarterback and receivers sharing common goals and mentality is vital to an offense’s success as much as having routes down. Dana Holgorsen brought to Morgantown a spread air raid scheme that Smith said is “tailored to [his] specific characteristics.”

But it’s also predicated on each player being in sync. That starts from behind center.

“The quarterback has to communicate everything, and get everyone on the same page,” Smith said.

Guiding the offense is a major lesson Smith gleaned from his first season running it. The Mountaineers’ loss last October to Syracuse raised eyebrows. The Orange capitalized on a pair of interceptions en route to a three-touchdown victory.

“I did a bad job reading the defense,” Smith said. “I learned from it, and it’s made me a better player.”

Therein is the catalyst of Smith’s meteoric rise. He’s been the same player with the same mindset, but he’s also learning. Finding ways to improve and better understand the game. Always.

“I want to be the best,” he said.

That means extended sessions studying — he calls himself “a film junkie” and says throwing interceptions is his “pet peeve” — and extra repetitions in the weight room. He credits a stronger frame for his otherworldly production so far this season.

This week, he’s familiarizing himself with one of the most celebrated defenses in college football. The Mountaineers travel to Austin for the first time on their inaugural Big 12 tour. Mack Brown hired defensive coordinator Manny Diaz to refocus the Longhorns before the 2011 season, and Diaz succeeded. Texas trimmed more than a point off its per game yield in 2011 from the season prior, despite Big 12 offenses scoring at historic rates.

The Longhorn defense thrives on frustrating opposing quarterbacks with a tenacious pass rush. That starts with what Smith called “two of the best pass rushers in the country,” Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat.

There is no shortage of detractors expecting Smith and West Virginia’s stay under the spotlight to be a flash in the pan with the Longhorns waiting. Las Vegas is an accurate depiction of public perception, and Sin City has Texas as a touchdown favorite. That ties into yet another reality Smith accepts is with fame comes inevitable skepticism. To cynics, he has one suggestion.

“Watch us play,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”