Post by elp525 on Oct 27, 2011 5:13:59 GMT -5
Thursday, October 27 2011
Chip Fontanazza
Morgantown
Geno Smith is known as one of the toughest competitors on the WVU football team.
His drive to win has helped the Mountaineers become one of the top offensive teams in the nation and it has helped them become the favorite to win the Big East Conference.
At least that was before the Syracuse loss.
The 49-23 blowout victory by the Orange exposed a lot of areas the Mountaineers have to improve on both offense and defense, but Smith doesn’t want this loss to hang over the team’s head for the rest of the season.
“There is no need to put our heads down. It is what it is and we didn’t give enough effort, we didn’t fight back, we didn’t do the things we need to do to win,” said Smith. “I just want to let my teammates know that this can’t define who we are. We’re better than what we showed.”
The WVU coaching staff said in the first 25 offensive plays, Syracuse showed 21 different blitzes. That’s something the Mountaineers weren’t expecting and haven’t seen all season. Smith says despite the two interceptions he threw and being sacked four times, the schemes the Orange ran didn’t fool them.
“I wasn’t confused at all. I’m never going to be confused,” said Smith. “A defense is going to be a defense and they did a lot of good things. I feel like they had a good scheme against what we do. I think we did a pretty good job adjusting to it, we just didn’t have enough time to come back in that game.”
One thing Smith did right after the game when he got back to Morgantown was watch film with quarterbacks coach Jack Spavital. On Tuesday, Smith had already watched the Syracuse film nine times, which is more than he usually watches from the previous week.
“Geno is a competitor,” said Spavital. “After the game, right when we flew in we watched the tape together. Just me and him. We watched it and then he came in the next day and we watched it again and then we watched it again on Sunday.”
The tough loss to SU has been on Geno’s mind the first few days after the game, but now Smith is focused on moving forward. He says he’s ready to face Rutgers and prove the Mountaineers are still the favorite to win the Big East Conference and return to the BCS for the first time since the 2007 season.
“We can’t feed into the media and what everyone is going to say about us,” said Smith. “There is another game and there is another day to get better and just to show what we can do.”
“I don’t think a loss is needed to wake us up,” continued Smith. “I don’t think we needed a wakeup call. I think we need to respond better when adversity hits us.”
The Mountaineers will have another chance to show how they respond to adversity on Saturday against the Scarlet Knights.
Chip Fontanazza
Morgantown
Geno Smith is known as one of the toughest competitors on the WVU football team.
His drive to win has helped the Mountaineers become one of the top offensive teams in the nation and it has helped them become the favorite to win the Big East Conference.
At least that was before the Syracuse loss.
The 49-23 blowout victory by the Orange exposed a lot of areas the Mountaineers have to improve on both offense and defense, but Smith doesn’t want this loss to hang over the team’s head for the rest of the season.
“There is no need to put our heads down. It is what it is and we didn’t give enough effort, we didn’t fight back, we didn’t do the things we need to do to win,” said Smith. “I just want to let my teammates know that this can’t define who we are. We’re better than what we showed.”
The WVU coaching staff said in the first 25 offensive plays, Syracuse showed 21 different blitzes. That’s something the Mountaineers weren’t expecting and haven’t seen all season. Smith says despite the two interceptions he threw and being sacked four times, the schemes the Orange ran didn’t fool them.
“I wasn’t confused at all. I’m never going to be confused,” said Smith. “A defense is going to be a defense and they did a lot of good things. I feel like they had a good scheme against what we do. I think we did a pretty good job adjusting to it, we just didn’t have enough time to come back in that game.”
One thing Smith did right after the game when he got back to Morgantown was watch film with quarterbacks coach Jack Spavital. On Tuesday, Smith had already watched the Syracuse film nine times, which is more than he usually watches from the previous week.
“Geno is a competitor,” said Spavital. “After the game, right when we flew in we watched the tape together. Just me and him. We watched it and then he came in the next day and we watched it again and then we watched it again on Sunday.”
The tough loss to SU has been on Geno’s mind the first few days after the game, but now Smith is focused on moving forward. He says he’s ready to face Rutgers and prove the Mountaineers are still the favorite to win the Big East Conference and return to the BCS for the first time since the 2007 season.
“We can’t feed into the media and what everyone is going to say about us,” said Smith. “There is another game and there is another day to get better and just to show what we can do.”
“I don’t think a loss is needed to wake us up,” continued Smith. “I don’t think we needed a wakeup call. I think we need to respond better when adversity hits us.”
The Mountaineers will have another chance to show how they respond to adversity on Saturday against the Scarlet Knights.
