MORGANTOWN —
They say statistics are boring, but they haven’t read West Virginia’s statistics after Saturday’s 48-45 victory over Texas in Austin.
It certainly deserved more than a lone star.
• QB Geno Smith now possesses 24 touchdown passes and no interceptions.
• After completing 25 of 35 passes against Texas, Smith has completed 166 of 204 throws, an 81.4 percentage. The all-time NCAA record for highest single season completion record belongs to Texas’ Colt McCoy at 76.7 percent.
• Smith has thrown 204 consecutive passes this season without an interception and is closing in on Trent Dilfer’s FBS season record of 271.
• More impressive, going back into last season — all the way to the South Florida game, for he threw no interceptions in the 70-38 Orange Bowl victory over Clemson — Smith has thrown 259 consecutive passes without an interception, just 120 attempts shy of Russell Wilson’s FSC record in 2008-09 when he was with North Carolina State.
• Smith did turn the ball over for the first time this year against Texas when he lost a fumble. No sweat there though. He didn’t really have a shot at Travis Prentice’s record for most rushes without a fumble, which he sat for Miami of Ohio in 1998 when he had 365 carries without losing the ball. In fact, Prentice went 892 touches in his career without a fumble.
• Smith versus last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III through five games: Completion percentage: RG3 80.3, Smith 80.4; Passing yards per game: RG3 304.0, Smith 399.2; TD-Int: RG3 19-1, Smith 24-0; Total yards: RG3 1,800, Smith 2,062.
• WR Stedman Bailey has 13 touchdown receptions among the 24 Smith has thrown. That is a single-season record at WVU and the Mountaineers have played only five games. With eight games remaining he is almost halfway to Troy Edwards’ single-season record for touchdown receptions, set at Louisiana Tech in 1998 when he caught 27.
• WR Tavon Austin had 10 receptions for 102 yards and a touchdown and now has had at least 10 receptions and TD in six straight games going back to last season. No FBS player has accomplished that since 2004.
• West Virginia went 5 for 5 on fourth down attempts against Texas, and these were not always fourth and short.
• The victory was just WVU’s second ever on the road before a crowd of 75,000 or larger against a Top 10 team.
• WVU had not beaten a Top 10 team on the road in 30 years, covering 12 games. That goes all the way back to the 1982 team’s signature victory over No. 9 Oklahoma in 1982.
• WVU set a stadium record for points scored by a Big 12 team despite two turnovers. Texas had one and had won 73 straight games when it won the turnover battle.
Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @bhertzel.
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