The Rise and Fall of Geno Smith - jmik58's Blog

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The Rise and Fall of Geno Smith Stuck

Posted on October 24, 2012 at 11:18 AM.

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Now you see him. Now you don't.

Geno Smith, just two weeks ago was the front-runner for the Heisman. Ahead of Matt Barkley, Collin Klein, Landry Jones, and every other player classified as a participant in the FBS -- Smith could have considered a run for public office; could have been anything in the state of West Virginia.

If things had continued, the Heisman may have been in danger of an identity crisis. Sure, Superman may wear Chuck Norris pajamas; but the Heisman Trophy was on the verge of being reincarnated as the Geno Smith Award.

After a 70-63 once-in-a-decade game against Baylor, Smith and the Mountaineers climbed as high as fifth in the polls with a win over the top-ten Texas Longhorns on the road. Maybe it was a sense of accomplishment that led to relaxation in the program. Or perhaps it was the first opponent to offer up a legitimate defense. Either way, the West Virginia dream came crashing down with a shocking 49-14 loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

But all hope wasn't lost; redemption was still possible -- college football allows for that. It's not always that a team suffers a loss but sometimes more importantly when. Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, situational perspective went straight out the window "when" the Kansas State Wildcats did "that" to Geno Smith and West Virginia this past weekend -- a 55-14 defeat.

The difficulty with being the best player in college football -- or at least in convincing the Heisman voters as such -- is that it's never enough to be an exceptional stat-o-matic sensation. You have to stand out in your region, have a captivating back-story, provide novelty to the nation, and ultimately play for a national championship contender or take your team to heights they haven't seen in a generation.

There really isn't anything wrong with Geno Smith the football player, but his product -- his Heisman resume' -- just doesn't fit the mold anymore. He's passed for over 2,400 yards with a 74.2% completion clip. Smith has totaled these figures while connecting for 26 touchdowns and only two interceptions through only seven games of the season -- good enough for a 172.0 quarterback rating.

But numbers aren't enough to define a Heisman winner.

At five wins and two losses, the West Virginia Mountaineers lack the potential to do anything as a team they haven't done in recent memory. A nine or ten-win season has been an expectation for quite some time. No matter what Geno Smith does the remainder of this year he can't resurrect the hope of a Big-12 conference championship and certainly not a national championship.

After starting the year 5-0 as a team with Smith tossing 24 touchdowns to zero interceptions, it all changed. Deuces have been wild since then. Two games, two touchdown throws, two interceptions. But more importantly, two Mountaineers losses.

For Geno Smith's Heisman hopes it appears it's also too late.

Sound Off: Is Geno Smith still a serious Heisman candidate?

Justin Mikels is a staff writer for Operation Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @long_snapper

Comments

# 1 Jadakiss88 @ Oct 24

IMO he is still in the talks but is now behind Colin Klein. His defense is hurting his chances because teams have found so many ways to expose them 7 games in and he has only thrown two interceptions and he's dropped down as the Top choice for the Heisman has to suck.

I think he has a shot just like so many anaylst are still giving Barkley a shot and not even speaking on Klein or McCarron.

# 2 Bmore Irish @ Oct 24

Te'o!!! Ha that would be cool but obviously i dont think it will happen. Klein is a good candidate, but what if he loses? McCarron?

# 3 Jadakiss88 @ Oct 24

McCarron ain't this point in the season has the best QB Rating in the Nation, No interceptions, undefeated,is tied for 12th in the Nation for TD's, and has a 69% completion rating.

# 4 Jadakiss88 @ Oct 24

*at* this point

# 5 Eski33 @ Oct 24

It isn't the fall of Geno Smith. It is the fall of WVU. How can anyone expect one player to play at that level when the defense blows?

# 6 Jimbo614 @ Oct 24

Please refrain from Jinxing my A J Mc Carron. All we need is for him to just hand the ball to Lacy or A.J. and just stay out of the way. No mistakes. Just keep maticulating down the field.

# 7 DBMcGee3 @ Oct 25

He'll probably still be the #1 pick. If so, he'll have millions of reasons to forget about the Heisman.

# 8 Bmore Irish @ Oct 25

yea i mean i shouldnt have put a ? after what i said, since i believe klein will win it, and if not him McCarron, assuming either of them were to stay undefeated. And hopefully that puts the final touches on jinxing both of those teams haha

# 9 TheTodd84 @ Oct 29

Tough to have Geno shoulder the blame for those two losses. How about blaming Dana for not recruiting solid defensive players? And how about blaming Joe DeForest who oversaw mediocre to bad Oklahoma State defenses and is not a great coach, as evidenced by his team making the same mistakes week in and week out and blown coverages. Yes, I know the defense is young, so what? There are plenty of young defenses around the country. Not only that, Dana has been reluctant to add new wrinkles to his version of the Air Raid as the season progresses. Well, Texas Tech and K-State have figured them out. Maybe a week off will allow him to do that.

But good god, Dana, Can you please recruit some defense and get rid of DeForest? Yikes. It's like watching Idaho out there on D.