Post by elp525 on Sept 12, 2011 7:23:06 GMT -5
Monday September 12, 2011
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN - Geno Smith completed 12 of his 16 passes in the second half Saturday for 276 yards and three touchdowns.
He provided a pace that accelerated the time between the end of one play and the start of the next to revitalize an offense that embarrassed its coach in the first half.
In summary, West Virginia's quarterback was the key to everything the offense did to start the second half with five touchdown drives as the Mountaineers raced away from the Norfolk State, 55-12 - then moved up to 18th in this week's Associated Press media poll and 20th in the USA Today coaches' poll.
Yet it was what Smith did prior to that which mattered most.
"That one person we needed to step up to be a leader stepped up," receiver Ivan McCartney said. "Then it was up to us to buy into what he was saying."
WVU (2-0) was trailing 12-10 at the half to a Football Championship Subdivision team that had never led in any of its previous three games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams and was outscored 128-3. Smith let his teammates have it in the locker room and introduced a rude reality.
This wasn't the generic sort of halftime lecture about playing harder and wanting it more in the second half. This was personal.
Coach Dana Holgorsen's prodigious offense that had worked through the years at Texas Tech and Houston and Oklahoma State wasn't working with WVU and Smith told the players they were the reason why.
"The one thing that he said that stuck out most to everyone was when he said this system has been successful for 10 years and we're the team that is not being successful," McCartney said.
"We have the same system, so it's not the system. It's us. We looked at it like if this system has been successful for 10 years, then we need to make the changes and make the system successful."
The Mountaineers scored on their first seven drives in the second half before running out the clock on the eighth. They managed five touchdowns in 20 plays in the third and fourth quarters and needed just 6 minutes, 47 seconds off the clock to do it.
"The truth hurts," McCartney said, "but we needed to hear it to get past what happened in the first half."
Smith finished 20-for-34 for a career-high 376 yards. The Mountaineers take a hot quarterback into Saturday's noon game against Maryland at Byrd Stadium (ESPNU telecast).
"He was very good," quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital said. "He operated with a high tempo, which I was very pleased with. Maryland, if he keeps operating with a good tempo, I think he'll continue to get the kids to rally around him."
Smith's four touchdown passes matched a career-high and each went to a different receiver - McCartney, Tavon Austin, Tyler Urban and Devon Brown, the Wake Forest transfer who caught four passes for a career-high 108 yards. Six of Smith's receivers caught a pass that covered at least 30 yards.
Before Saturday, though, Smith had been careful not to talk or think too much about Holgorsen's history as an offensive coordinator.
"I think that can be a negative," he said. "Everybody has been hyping us up and telling us how good we can be and what we can do. I don't know if our guys believe it or now, but I do think ultimately it comes down to performance on the field.
"It has nothing to do with talk or newspaper articles or blogs or whatever. It's all about giving effort on the field. As long as we do that, I think we see now that we'll be fine."
WVU came away with noting on its first two possessions, even though they started at the Spartans 26- and 12-yard line. NSU went ahead 6-0 before the Mountaineers finally made something happen as Austin turned a short pass into a 45-yard gain to the 1. WVU couldn't score on the next six snaps and only had that many chances because NSU gave WVU a first down with a pass interference penalty. Bitancurt kicked a 17-yard field goal.
"Flat-out embarrassing," Holgorsen said. "Embarrassing. I don't have an answer for you. If you want to say scheme, it's scheme, but we run the same stuff all the time."
A personal foul against the Spartans came after an incomplete pass on second-and-10 on WVU's next drive. Smith then moved the offense 81 yards in nine plays and capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Brown. On the first 23 plays before Smith got the offense moving, WVU had 79 yards.
The start of the second half was totally different and the Mountaineers moved 51, 80, 60, 49 and 48 yards and only once faced a third down.
Holgorsen's review served as backup to what his quarterback said at halftime.
"We called the same stuff," Holgorsen said. "I can assure you it was nothing schematically. Not to say we know everything about coaching or we're not reaching our kids or whatever it is, but I assure you it's nothing schematically. We didn't just decide to put a bunch of plays together that haven't been proven to work."
Smith added an urgency he and Holgorsen felt was lacking early in the game. Receivers were running into defenders during their routes. Running backs were tiptoeing around blocks. Linemen didn't block downfield. Smith admitted he was slow with some reads. To remedy that, Smith wanted his teammates to hurry toward the next snap.
"You get into a groove and get on a hot streak and when that happens, it's all downhill from there," Smith said.
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN - Geno Smith completed 12 of his 16 passes in the second half Saturday for 276 yards and three touchdowns.
He provided a pace that accelerated the time between the end of one play and the start of the next to revitalize an offense that embarrassed its coach in the first half.
In summary, West Virginia's quarterback was the key to everything the offense did to start the second half with five touchdown drives as the Mountaineers raced away from the Norfolk State, 55-12 - then moved up to 18th in this week's Associated Press media poll and 20th in the USA Today coaches' poll.
Yet it was what Smith did prior to that which mattered most.
"That one person we needed to step up to be a leader stepped up," receiver Ivan McCartney said. "Then it was up to us to buy into what he was saying."
WVU (2-0) was trailing 12-10 at the half to a Football Championship Subdivision team that had never led in any of its previous three games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams and was outscored 128-3. Smith let his teammates have it in the locker room and introduced a rude reality.
This wasn't the generic sort of halftime lecture about playing harder and wanting it more in the second half. This was personal.
Coach Dana Holgorsen's prodigious offense that had worked through the years at Texas Tech and Houston and Oklahoma State wasn't working with WVU and Smith told the players they were the reason why.
"The one thing that he said that stuck out most to everyone was when he said this system has been successful for 10 years and we're the team that is not being successful," McCartney said.
"We have the same system, so it's not the system. It's us. We looked at it like if this system has been successful for 10 years, then we need to make the changes and make the system successful."
The Mountaineers scored on their first seven drives in the second half before running out the clock on the eighth. They managed five touchdowns in 20 plays in the third and fourth quarters and needed just 6 minutes, 47 seconds off the clock to do it.
"The truth hurts," McCartney said, "but we needed to hear it to get past what happened in the first half."
Smith finished 20-for-34 for a career-high 376 yards. The Mountaineers take a hot quarterback into Saturday's noon game against Maryland at Byrd Stadium (ESPNU telecast).
"He was very good," quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital said. "He operated with a high tempo, which I was very pleased with. Maryland, if he keeps operating with a good tempo, I think he'll continue to get the kids to rally around him."
Smith's four touchdown passes matched a career-high and each went to a different receiver - McCartney, Tavon Austin, Tyler Urban and Devon Brown, the Wake Forest transfer who caught four passes for a career-high 108 yards. Six of Smith's receivers caught a pass that covered at least 30 yards.
Before Saturday, though, Smith had been careful not to talk or think too much about Holgorsen's history as an offensive coordinator.
"I think that can be a negative," he said. "Everybody has been hyping us up and telling us how good we can be and what we can do. I don't know if our guys believe it or now, but I do think ultimately it comes down to performance on the field.
"It has nothing to do with talk or newspaper articles or blogs or whatever. It's all about giving effort on the field. As long as we do that, I think we see now that we'll be fine."
WVU came away with noting on its first two possessions, even though they started at the Spartans 26- and 12-yard line. NSU went ahead 6-0 before the Mountaineers finally made something happen as Austin turned a short pass into a 45-yard gain to the 1. WVU couldn't score on the next six snaps and only had that many chances because NSU gave WVU a first down with a pass interference penalty. Bitancurt kicked a 17-yard field goal.
"Flat-out embarrassing," Holgorsen said. "Embarrassing. I don't have an answer for you. If you want to say scheme, it's scheme, but we run the same stuff all the time."
A personal foul against the Spartans came after an incomplete pass on second-and-10 on WVU's next drive. Smith then moved the offense 81 yards in nine plays and capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Brown. On the first 23 plays before Smith got the offense moving, WVU had 79 yards.
The start of the second half was totally different and the Mountaineers moved 51, 80, 60, 49 and 48 yards and only once faced a third down.
Holgorsen's review served as backup to what his quarterback said at halftime.
"We called the same stuff," Holgorsen said. "I can assure you it was nothing schematically. Not to say we know everything about coaching or we're not reaching our kids or whatever it is, but I assure you it's nothing schematically. We didn't just decide to put a bunch of plays together that haven't been proven to work."
Smith added an urgency he and Holgorsen felt was lacking early in the game. Receivers were running into defenders during their routes. Running backs were tiptoeing around blocks. Linemen didn't block downfield. Smith admitted he was slow with some reads. To remedy that, Smith wanted his teammates to hurry toward the next snap.
"You get into a groove and get on a hot streak and when that happens, it's all downhill from there," Smith said.
