The 2012 West Virginia Mountaineer Football team came into the 2012 season with high hopes. Following the 70 – 24 romping of Clemson in last year’s Discover Orange Bowl, which only the state of WV picked would win (as usual), the Mountaineers were preseason ranked number 11 in both poles with a high powered offense, dubbed the “Air Raid”, that had them a BCS Title Game contender. There was a bit of concern though, would their new 3-4 defense, which was manned by underclassmen, be able to stick with the big guns in the Big 12? The answer would be a disappointing no.
The season started off very promising with a 69 – 34 crushing of Marshall in the Friends of Coal Bowl. Geno Smith threw for 323 yards and 4 TD’s. Stedman Bailey would catch nine balls for 104 yards and 2 TD’s. Shawn Alston led the way with 123 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. A leg injury would keep Alston out for most of the season and hinder the rushing game.
They would then take to the road for a home game in Washington D.C. against James Madison. They, again, dominated to a 42 – 12 win and would get 411 more passing yards and 5 more touchdowns by Geno Smith.
Following a hard fought 31 – 21 victory over Maryland, Heisman voters would catch onto the Mountaineer QB the next week when he would put up a monumental 656 yards and 8 TD’s in a 70 – 63 victory over Baylor in the first Big 12 game in school history. Stedman Bailey began his march up the NFL Draft ranks in the game with 303 yards receiving and 5 TD’s. The lapse in defense during the shootout would be the first glimpse of what would come and it made fans uneasy.
Next would come the first major step in the Mountaineers road to prominence would come the next week in Austin Texas against the 11th rated Longhorns. They fell behind early but were able to rebound in a shootout and win 48 – 45. The running game was beginning to gain stride with 200 total yards on the ground. The Mounties would come out of that game ranked 5th in the nation. The highest they would reach.
The defensive woes would finally bite WVU in their next set of conference games. Geno Smith would be bested by Texas Tech’s highly rated pass defense and the Mountaineers would be blown out of the ranks of the unbeaten in a 49 – 14 defeat. Geno Smith finally looked human as he had no answer for the stout Tech passing D.
Things wouldn’t improve the next week as another Heisman candidate in Collin Klein and 4th rated Kansas State would roll into Morgantown for a prime time matchup. The same story as the week before would follow. Offense struggles, Defense can’t get off the field. Final score #4 Kansas State 55, West Virginia 14.
WVU seemed to have stopped their downward spiral with a touchdown lead against TCU late in the fourth. TCU would then score with a long TD pass with under two minutes left and would pull out a one point victory in overtime thanks to a fake FG pass that some believe hit the ground before the receiver could get his hands under it. Things still wouldn’t get better on a cold, windy afternoon in Stillwater Oklahoma against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Mountaineers stuck around until turnovers doomed them to a 55 – 34 loss, their fourth straight.
The “turnaround” came at home in a loss to #12 Oklahoma. The Mountaineers fell behind by two touchdowns multiple times early before the heroics of Tavon Austin, combined with a couple rare defensive stops played for the best fourth quarter, back-and-forth battle in my short, 18 years of watching college football. (I’m 24, can’t really count my first 6 years of asking “Why is the guy in the one color hurting the guy in the other color?” a part of watching college football) Even though Oklahoma pulled out the 50 – 49 victory in the final minute of the game, Tavon Austin’s 572 all-purpose yards (344 rushing, 82 receiving, 146 return YD’s) and 2 total touchdowns will go down as one of the greatest single player performances in Mountaineer history. Thanks to the performance, Stedman Bailey’s 205 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns were put on the back burner along with Smith’s 320 yards passing and 4 touchdowns.
In the post-game press conference, Coach Dana Holgorsen admitted that they should have put Austin in the backfield the whole season. I agree, Coach.
The performance seemed helpful to the team as well as they would win the next two games against Iowa State and Kansas by a combined score of 90 – 34.
The late season turnaround not only avoided their first losing season since 2001, but it gave the Mountaineers an invite to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl to face the Syracuse Orange.
The Orange owned Geno and Co. over the last two years by defeating the highly favorited Mountaineers and did the same in this seasons bowl game by a final score of 38 – 14. This time the Syracuse run game was what toppled the WVU attack. The Mountaineers actually had a good run defense going into the contest but allowed 350+ in the loss. The sole high point of the game would come from Stedman Bailey. His 126 yards receiving and 2 TD’s would finish his Mountaineer career as he has declared for the NFL Draft where he should be a top 2 round pick.
Geno Smith is looked at as a #1 pick by some as he finished off the season with 4201 passing yards, 42 TD’s, and 6 INT. Tavon Austin is another name that will be around the NFL for years to come as he finished the year with 112 receptions, 1280 receiving yards, 652 rushing yards, and 19 total touchdowns.
It may not have been the season Mountaineer fans had hoped for but it was a season with many bright spots in their first year in the Big 12 Conference.
