West Virginia Football: 10 best individual seasons under Dana Holgorsen
By Phil Poling
No. 3: Geno Smith, Quarterback | 2012
There hasn’t been a hotter start to a college football season than the way Geno Smith hit the scene in 2012. He led the Mountaineers to a 5-0 start while accounting for 2,062 yards and 25 touchdowns; the Heisman Trophy had never been closer to Morgantown.
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He got things started against Marshall, completing 32-of-36 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns — Smith added 65 yards and one score on the ground. He also had seven different receivers catch a pass that day, something that’d become routine for the ‘Eers.
Against James Madison, Smith completed 34 of his 39 attempts for 411 yards and five scores through the air. Nine different Mountaineers caught passes on the way to a 42-12 victory.
The Baylor Bears ventured to Morgantown, and Smith and the offense really put it all together. He threw for 656 yards and eight touchdowns, both of which are WVU single-game records, while the ‘Eers won 70-63. Smith linked up with six different receivers during the contest, and both Bailey and Tavon Austin caught 12-plus passes for 500 combined yards. While many will say those are video game numbers, try posting a score like that — it’s still not easy.
One loss snowballed into two, then three and four and five losses in a row buried the Mountaineers hopes. Smith wasn’t considered a Heisman candidate anymore, but he finished with 4,205 passing yards (second most by WVU QB in single season) and 42 touchdowns (WVU single-season record).
This production shot his name up draft boards and Smith was selected in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. While the second half of his senior season didn’t go as planned, you can still appreciate the beauty of those first five games.