QB Smith’s final home game at West Virginia ‘as good as it gets’

Geno Smith experienced it all in 2012.

Going from the Heisman Trophy frontrunner to taking the burden for West Virginia’s unexpected five-game losing streak, he’s dealt with it just about as much as you can ask a 22-year old college kid to deal with.

"The finger pointed at him a lot when we weren’t doing specific things well," said Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen. "He’s a great kid and will be remembered around here for a long, long time."

Despite the rough road Smith experienced during his senior campaign, he found a perfect way to end his career.

The senior captain completed 23 of 24 passes for more than 400 yards and three touchdowns while tying the single-game FBS completion percentage record.

"It’s about as good as it gets, I guess," Smith said after the 59-10 rout of Kansas Saturday. "It was just an accumulation of everyone out there executed the game … That’s what football is about – guys making plays. And today we did so."

Smith’s only incompletion, which was intercepted by Kansas, technically wasn’t an incompletion, due to the fact it didn’t hit the ground.

"Any time you can throw for over 400 yards and not throw an incompletion, that’s pretty good," Holgorsen said. "He didn’t have a ball hit the ground all day."

Smith hit some lows during the season, including only throwing for 143 yards and two interceptions against Kansas State amid the aforementioned five-game slide.

But Saturday against Kansas, Smith may have ended his regular-season career with his most impressive performance yet.

"I really challenge myself every game to not throw any incompletions. I try not to let that ball hit the ground because every play is critical and every down counts," Smith said. "As long as the ball is in my hands, I need to do my job to get it to the playmakers that we have."

Smith’s illustrious career as a Mountaineer includes more than 11,000 yards passing and 96 passing TDS to just 21 interceptions.

His final trot onto Mountaineer Field was a memorable one.

However, No. 12 admits he probably won’t be hit with the realization of his career at home being over for quite some time.

"Many things went through my mind. It hasn’t hit me yet," Smith said. "I’m going to look back at this game, this season; every single time I stepped out on this field, and I’m going to be appreciative."

Following the victory against Kansas Saturday, Smith found his way into the crowd to sing "Country Roads" with members of the West Virginia student body.

It was a moment he will never forget.

"It was just spur of the moment. I wanted to go out on a high note," Smith said. "Just to be able to stand up there and sing ‘Country Roads’ in the student section; I hope that becomes a tradition. It’s one of those feelings you don’t actually know until you’re a part of."