No. 9 West Virginia and the Big 12, perfect together.
Geno Smith and the fast-moving, high-scoring Mountaineers proved they fit right in with their new conference, outracing No. 25 Baylor, 70-63, on Saturday in Morgantown, W.Va., in the Big 12’s highest-scoring game ever.
Smith tied a conference mark with eight touchdown passes and narrowly missed another one with 656 yards passing.
“It did feel like one of those classic Texas shootouts,” said Smith, whose school moved over from the Big East this season. “That’s kind of what the Big 12 is about.”
Smith outdueled Baylor’s Nick Florence, who broke Heisman Trophy-winning predecessor Robert Griffin III’s school record with 581 yards. Florence threw for five TDs.
School, conference and FBS marks all got rewritten in this one.
The game also set a new record for the most points scored in a game involving a team ranked in The Associated Press poll. The previous mark of 124 was set in No. 12 Oklahoma’s 82-42 win over Colorado in 1980.
How wild was it? Smith, the early Heisman front-runner, had more TD passes than incompletions (six). He was 45-for-51 passing and still doesn’t have an interception this season.
“Can you please tell me how you can improve on that?” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Maybe not on offense, but both defenses have plenty of work to do.
Smith’s big numbers also led to a record day for receiver Stedman Bailey, who had 303 yards and a school-record five TDs on 13 catches for West Virginia.
MORE FANCY PASSING
Miami quarterback Stephen Morris set school and Atlantic Coast Conference records for passing yards in a single game.
During Miami’s 44-37 victory over N.C. State, the junior threw for 566 yards, enough to surpass Gino Torretta’s 485-yard performance against San Diego State in 1991 for the school record. And it was also enough to pass former Wake Forest quarterback Rusty LaRue’s 545-yard game in 1995 for an Atlantic Coast Conference record.
That wasn’t all. Morris also threw for five touchdowns, tying Bernie Kosar, Steve Walsh, Ken Dorsey, Brock Berlin and Kyle Wright for the school record in that category.
A FEW OTHER NUMBERS
66: Points by North Carolina in its shutout victory over Idaho to set a school record.
240: Points allowed by Savannah State in four games this season.
704: Yards of total offense by Northwestern in a 44-29 win over Indiana, setting a school record.
EXTRA POINTS
Hawaii officials said defensive tackles Geardon Hanohano and Siasau Matagiese, who were both taken to a Provo, Utah hospital after helmet-to-helmet contact in the Warriors’ 47-0 loss to BYU on Friday, were on the team charter flight after X-rays were normal. … BYU officials said starting running back Michael Alisa is likely out for the rest of the regular season after breaking a bone in his right forearm against Hawaii.
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