The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

College Sports

October 24, 2012

Smith’s Heisman hopes still alive

By Cam Huffman Sports Editor

Following West Virginia’s 55-14 loss to Kansas State on Saturday, everybody, it seemed, officially declared Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith’s Heisman campaign as dead.

I readily admit that I was one of the guilty parties. After seeing KSU’s Collin Klein outshine Smith, who struggled for the second straight game, I just couldn’t see any way that the Miramar High School (Fla.) product could end the season with the hardware, especially considering that Klein is now the frontrunner.

But as I’ve looked a little closer over the past few days, I’ve come to realize that Smith could still have a realistic chance.

Early in the year, it was popular to compare Smith to Robert Griffin III — the Baylor quarterback, and now Washington Redskin, who won the Heisman in 2011. The similarities were obvious. Smith and Griffin played in the same conference and in similar offenses, and their head-turning passing numbers were similar.

Everywhere you looked — SportsCenter, Heisman websites, national newspapers — there were graphics comparing the two, with Smith actually ahead of the pace set by RG3.

But after WVU’s recent struggles, those charts have suddenly disappeared. So thinking about the Heisman race Monday, I decided to look for myself.

After seven games in 2011, Griffin’s Baylor Bears were 4-3 and, ironically, coming off of two blowout losses — a 55-28 setback against Texas A&M and a 59-24 defeat to No. 3 Oklahoma State. Griffin, who started all of those games, had thrown for 2,375 yards. He’d tossed 23 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Compare those numbers to Smith’s at this point. His team’s record, 5-2, is better, even after coming off a pair of blowout losses to Texas Tech and Kansas State. His passing yardage, 2,414 is slightly above RG3’s, as are his passing touchdowns, 26. His two interceptions, after breaking an NCAA record with 273 straight passes without a pick, are half of what Griffin had through seven games in 2011.

When you look at the numbers, it’s clear the race is far from over.

But Smith obviously has a lot of work to do. Through the final five regular season games of 2011, Griffin led his team to a perfect 5-0 record, including wins over No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 24 Texas. He threw for 1,918 yards over that stretch, including 13 touchdowns compared to two interceptions. Heisman voters tend to remember recent history the most, and RG3 made sure he wasn’t forgotten.

The opportunity is there for Smith to do the same. Like Baylor a year ago, WVU still has Oklahoma left on the schedule in Morgantown on Nov. 17, a chance for Smith to shine against a marquee opponent in a game that’s sure to draw plenty of national attention. He’ll also face Iowa State and Kansas — the Big 12’s sixth and seventh rated defenses, respectively — with a chance to put up big numbers.

The door is still cracked for Smith. But he’ll have to swing it open and come crashing through it, just as RG3 did a year ago, to claim the prize. WVU is going to have to get hot, and Smith will have to put up numbers that make voters forget about the last two weeks.

If he’s able to do that, he’ll deserve the hardware. If not, it was never meant to be.

— E-mail: chuffman@register-herald.com and follow him on Twitter @CamHuffmanRH.

Text Only
College Sports
  • 1MUSGRAVE1.jpg Musgrave, WVU teammates see tornado devastation up close

    West Virginia University pitcher Harrison Musgrave has spent his entire life in the hills of West Virginia. He didn’t know what a tornado siren was — let alone the damage that can be done by swirling winds.
    “I didn’t even know that they were going off,” Musgrave said. “I didn’t even know that they had sirens. I know I feel like a total idiot, but I heard them go off and I just thought it was an alarm going off.”

    May 22, 2013 1 Photo 6 Stories

  • WVU’s Musgrave wins Pitcher of the Year honors

    Six months ago, West Virginia University sophomore left-hander Harrison Musgrave was questioning his future with the WVU baseball program and first-year head coach Randy Mazey.

    May 21, 2013

  • Big 12 shifts tourney format

    The Big 12 Conference will still play the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship this week at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Okla., but in the wake of the devastating storm that blew through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday, there will be some major changes to the format.

    May 21, 2013

  • WVU baseball team helps tornado victims

    West Virginia University head baseball coach Randy Mazey was having lunch at an Oklahoma City restaurant Monday afternoon, keeping a close watch on the television set.
    With every passing minute, the tornado that devastated the Oklahoma town of Moore, was moving closer and closer to his location and its path was being documented by a local television station. At one point, the coach even looked out the window to see if he could see the approaching funnel.

    May 21, 2013

  • College Roundup

    May 21, 2013

  • WVU should reinstate men’s track — not golf

    West Virginia University has not had a men’s golf team since 1982.
    But Oliver Luck, who’s been the school’s athletic director going on three years, reportedly is talking about bringing back that sport “because it’s cheap.”

    May 21, 2013

  • Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship Format Changed

    In the wake of this week’s devastating storm in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, the Big 12 Conference is postponing the start of the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship. No. 3 seeded WVU scheduled to take on Kansas at 4 p.m. (Central) on Thursday.

    May 21, 2013

  • Misled West Virginia students deprived of Big 12 baseball games

    It now appears to be a fact that West Virginia University athletic officials misled students and the general public in not playing any Big 12 Conference baseball games at Hawley Field in Morgantown this season.

    May 21, 2013

  • Cleveland St. hires Oak Hill alumnus

    When Cornelius Jackson was dominating the Mid-American Conference as Marshall’s starting point guard, coaches around the league took notice.

    May 20, 2013

  • West Virginia to meet Kansas in Big 12 baseball tournament

    Third-seeded West Virginia will take on No. 6 Kansas on the first day of the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, set for Wednesday through Sunday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

    May 19, 2013