re: WVU Spring Game

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ESPN begs to differ

1. Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia Mountaineers



The Miami native had a good sophomore season, having completed 65 percent of his passes for 2,763 yards to go along with a 24:7 TD:INT ratio, but don't be surprised if those numbers skyrocket now that offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen has come to Morgantown. Holgorsen took Case Keenum, who threw for 2,259 yards with 14 TDs and 10 INTs one season, and transformed him into a 5,000-yard passer with a 44-11 TD-INT mark the next season. Last year, Holgorsen worked magic with Brandon Weeden of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.



In Smith, he has a guy who has been streaky, but the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder has plenty of tools. Smith, who had surgery on his foot in January, also has a nice crew of playmaking receivers, led by Tavon Austin, a player that Holgorsen said has star potential. Smith may sound like a big long shot now, but if the Mountaineers can win at Maryland in Week 3 and then knock off what could be a top-three LSU Tigers team in Morgantown, he will be in the thick of the race, because you know he's going to be put up gaudy stats in this system.

https://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=6250663&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2fblog%3fname%3dfeldman_bruce%26id%3d6250663

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Wasnt Devine a preaseason dark horse last season?

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Didn't you hit him about 5 yards OOB and essentially cost him his season?

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Their defense was gutted up the middle at all three levels.

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Didn't we lose our 3 best players on D?
And doesn't everyone expect us to be better on D this year somehow?

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Kinda looks familiar.

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NO. It doesn't.

We lost four guys off of our defense. Our best three players. Pep is very replaceable. I would argue that we have the deepest secondary in the SEC and the deepest OL I've seen in years. We bring back our top six defensive ends. The only place we are thin on either side is DT and we are stacked at that spot by Big East standards.

With the expception of Bruce Irvin, they lost the top six players off of their defense. As in they lost more starters than they kept and the guys they lost were players.

That doesn't even factor in Devine and Sanders being gone.

Believe me, I know the EERS. With the exception of my fiance (who went to Marshall) everyone else in the family went to WVU (season ticket holders). I've been to five games over the past four years. They talked a lot of shite to me at Easter about us playing there this year, but their confidence that they'll beat us is dwarfed by the confidence of our own pussy arse fans that they'll beat us.

Did you ever see Cole Bowers play in high school? I did ... in a game against Josh Jenkins. And let me assure you that neither of those guys would start for us.

They hired a great coach and they have a great quarterback and they have a great skill guy in Austin. But if you think the supporting cast is comparable to the talent on the field at LSU then you are a moron.

This isn't WVU of 2005 with Pat White sneaking up on Georgia and this isn't close to as talented as the team that could have challenged us for the title in 2007.

Our players are familiar with them. They know we almost lost last year. I highly doubt we take them lightly.

All of this moaning by the OP that we're destined to lose as though we're playing in against a Florida/Bama all-star team in a BDS/Swamp combo stadium is sad.

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We lost four guys off of our defense. Our best three players. Pep is very replaceable. I would argue that we have the deepest secondary in the SEC and the deepest OL I've seen in years. We bring back our top six defensive ends.

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Of the 16 returning players on defense, only one (Ron Brooks, but he did play in every game) never started a game last year. Getting back a healthy Sam Montgomery and Brandon Taylor, along with one of the top DLinemen in the nation coming out of high school (The Freak), one would think we should be ok on this side of the ball.

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Put Geno Smith on LSU’s team and we win the NC in a landslide. LSU fans love bringing that up, but he could line up under guard before every single play and they’d still have the better quarterback by a wide margin. I guess we should just write-off every single QB who ever got flustered in Death Valley.

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This. Dude was all conference with a 65% completion %.