MORGANTOWN — Today is supposed to be about the seniors, their last home game for ol’ West Virginia University, a game they will remember for if the Mountaineers win it they are Big East champions, and if they win it while Connecticut is losing to South Florida they are heading for a BCS bowl.

But as much as you want to make this game about the seniors, it isn’t. Not this year. Not in this offense.

This game, and all that is riding on it, is about a sophomore quarterback named Geno Smith, an amazingly talented young man who is gifted not only in his football abilities but in his no-nonsense approach to the game and life.

He is the focus point, the engine that drives this offense.

To understand this, there are two approaches to take. The first is to listen to the man who has defend him at noon today, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano.

“He has a big arm and can make all the throws, but he is also very elusive. They still do the gun-run game and when he does it, he makes people miss. He runs away from people and he runs over people. He is a big man,” he said. “He is also very tough in the pocket to get down on the ground. I can see why they were so excited about him when I heard Coach (Bill) Stewart talk about him. You could tell he thought he would be a really good player and he is.”

But Schiano seems to fear his running as much as his throwing, while the truth is the offense rides on his arm. That’s conclusively shown in the statistics.

Here are the average per game numbers for Smith in the eight victories and three defeats entering into the Rutgers game:



    Att    Comp.    Pct.    Int.    Yds.    TD



Win    25.6    17.5    68.3    0.3    219.8    2    

Loss    33.1    18.7    56.0    1.3    152.3    1



Soak that in for a moment. He completes passes at a 12 percent better rate in victories, throws an interception a game less and throws for 67 more yards while throwing a touchdown a game more.

Now it’s true that WVU has had a lot more turnovers in the losses than the victories and that includes fumbles as much as interceptions, and it is there were most of the focus has been pointed, including Smith’s.

“I think in the games we’ve won, this little (three-game) winning streak we have, our yardage has been down but the turnovers are also down. That resulted in points,” he said, it being true that in the last three games WVU has turned the ball over only three times while turning it over 9 times in the three losses.

“If we don’t turn the ball over we can win because we have a great defense. We also have a great kicking game,” Smith said.

So, the question then becomes, why turn the ball over so often in those three games?

Smith has a theory and it’s one that actually makes a lot of sense, considering the kind of talent there is on the West Virginia offense.

“We have explosive players,” Smith noted.

That’s supposed to be a positive, but …

“You get into that mode where we can showboat and do this and that and you get away from fundamentals of it. I think that’s something that happened,” he said.

“Everyone was out there and every time they touched the ball they wanted to make a big play rather than just keep the chains moving, get a first down and score in the end. Everyone was trying to make the big one. That ultimately killed us.”

Think about it. They were so good that they knew what they could do at their best and tried to do it when it wasn’t wise, when a defender could yank the ball from their grasp, where a defensive back could step and make an interception.

“It’s kind of a curse to have so much talent, not just in the skill positions, but even around you. You feel unstoppable. You try to make every play instead of thinking about the smaller things,” Smith said.

Now this is especially true when you are younger in your career, like a sophomore quarterback. How many passes do you think Smith would like to get back this year for trying to do something maybe a more conservative approach would have avoided?

It’s the curse of talent and the curse of youth … and also the curse of having maybe the best defense in the country, a defense which has the ability to keep mistakes from becoming touchdowns.

“You don’t think like that but you have it in the back of your head,” Smith said. “It’s more you have so much faith in your ability that you go and try to do too much at times.”

By now, entering the most important game of the season, they should be getting the grasp of it now and the mistakes may actually prove to be a blessing. So often in athletics you hear that you have to be bad before you can be good.

“You have to go through a learning period,” Smith admitted. “Those losses we had created a maturity that’s phenomenal with this team. When we get down in games, we don’t get down on ourselves. We also understand that if we keep moving the chains we’ll get to the end zone and score.

“No one is selfish. We are playing for each other out there. We’re brothers out there.”

The mistakes, however, could lead to a “what if” feeling … this team being less than a touchdown in each of the losses away from a perfect season.

“I always think ‘what if?’ Then again, selfishly speaking, “I have next year and we’re going to have some of the most explosive players again. I think those losses have made us better players,” Smith said.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.