Claremore Daily Progress

Sports

September 24, 2012

West Virginia eager to get started in Big 12

ASSOCIATED PRESS Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — It's the week West Virginia has been waiting for.

After three double-digit wins in nonconference play, the ninth-ranked Mountaineers now turn to their Big 12 debut against No. 25 Baylor.

"It's a new season, man,'' said West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith. "It's all about the conference.''

Next Saturday, it will be all about lighting up the scoreboard. Baylor is averaging 51 points a game, the Mountaineers 47.

It's been 11 months since West Virginia announced it was leaving the Big East, but the move didn't become official until the school settled a lawsuit with its former conference in February.

Baylor's visit to Morgantown starts a round of introductions. West Virginia (3-0) has never played the Bears (3-0) in football, and not much against other current Big 12 members, either. The Mountaineers are 9-4 against them dating to 1928.

In the weeks to come West Virginia will head to the road and find out about Texas' "hook'em horns,'' Oklahoma State's Pistol Pete and Texas Tech's Raider Red.

And Big 12 fans will learn a lot more about Smith, a Heisman Trophy hopeful who's surrounded by star receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey and a coaching staff already familiar with the conference.

"I know that I speak for my team and the fans, we're very excited,'' Bailey said. "We know that we'll be facing a lot of challenges going into the Big 12.''

The first time that coach Dana Holgorsen brought up the Big 12 to his players was after West Virginia's 31-21 win over Maryland on Saturday.

Despite some hiccups, Holgorsen likes where his team is at.

"I've got a bunch of guys who like to play football and understand what's at stake,'' he said. "They like to play, they enjoy each other and I think that we are a real close team and getting tighter by the week. They understand what we have to do to get better and we'll go back to work and get ready for Baylor.''

The coaching staff, at least, has some familiarity with the conference. First-year defensive coordinator Joe DeForest was at Oklahoma State for a decade. Holgorsen spent eight seasons as an assistant at Texas Tech and was Mike Gundy's offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State in 2010 before coming to West Virginia.

Holgorsen's quarterbacks have surpassed 4,000 yards passing in every year since his first year as an offensive coordinator in 2005.

If Smith stays healthy, this year could make it eight in a row.

He threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns against Maryland and rewrote another school record, this time for career passing attempts. Through three games, he's thrown for 1,072 yards and 12 TDs with no interceptions.

Austin set a single-game school record with 13 receptions Saturday and broke Jock Sanders' two-year-old career receptions mark. His 179 receiving yards accounted for half of West Virginia's offense.

Doug Rigg was a stalwart for the Mountaineers on defense, taking a fumble 51 yards for a touchdown.

The night before, Rigg noticed something as he watched Baylor beat Louisiana-Monroe 47-42.

"I thought, man they line up very fast and I didn't like that,'' Rigg said. "But in a way, we're used to it in practice. We go against our offense and they line up fast.''





 

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