West Virginia wipes out Herd

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October 18, 2009

Associated Press story The Daily Independent Sun Oct 18, 2009, 12:11 AM EDT

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Freshman Geno Smith was relaxed and ready when West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown went down with an injury.

Smith led the Mountaineers on four scoring drives in the first extensive play of his young career, including throwing a 33-yard touchdown pass.

West Virginia overcame its first halftime deficit of the season to beat Marshall 24-7 Saturday.

“I think he did pretty well,” coach Bill Stewart said. “I thought in my heart he knew where to put the ball.”

Noel Devine rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns as West Virginia (5-1) improved to 9-0 against Marshall (4-3) in the series between the state’s only Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

Devine outdueled Marshall’s Darius Marshall in a matchup between two of the nation’s top three rushers, although both players struggled to find running room on a cold and wet afternoon.

Devine was held 23 yards below his third-best average. Marshall, whose 146-yard average ranked second to Fresno State’s Ryan Mathews’s 148, was limited to 82 yards and lost a second-quarter fumble at the West Virginia 8.

With only 313 yards of offense, West Virginia didn’t overwhelm Marshall. With No. 20 Oklahoma, No. 21 South Florida and No. 25 Notre Dame among the ranked teams that lost, the Mountaineers will find out Sunday if they’ll join unranked Pittsburgh and No. 8 Cincinnati in the Top 25. That would give the Big East three ranked teams for the first time this season.

Brown took a helmet-to-helmet hit on West Virginia’s first series and did not return. Stewart said he didn’t know the extent of Brown’s injury. The Mountaineers enter the heart of the Big East schedule starting next Saturday at home against Connecticut.

The 6-foot-3 Smith won the backup job during preseason camp after throwing for 3,089 yards and 32 TDs last season at Miramar (Fla.) High School and saw limited play late in two games earlier this season.

With former WVU standout Pat White watching from the sidelines, Smith completed 15 of 21 passes for 147 yards.

“Coach always tells me to stay ready for these situations,” Smith said. “I’m always comfortable. I was comfortable at the beginning of the game. It was just a matter of me making my looks at the defense and making my reads a little quicker because they (Marshall) were running a lot of different things out there.”

Smith said offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen’s play calling “allowed me to get into a rhythm early. And in the second half, we just basically lit them up.”

After West Virginia was limited to two first downs and 84 yards of offense in the first half, its defense came up big, holding an opponent scoreless after halftime for the second time this season.

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