WVU quarterback Geno Smith has seen his Heisman Trophy hopes nearly vanish after rough outings in consecutive games against Texas Tech and Kansas State, but he's hardly been the Mountaineers' only problem, or even its primary one. Above all, West Virginia simply can't play defense, and even if Smith had performed better in his last two games, WVU's tendency to give up touchdowns in, seemingly, almost every possession would have eventually caught up to it.
Smith's head coach, Dana Holgorsen, is understandably trying to deflect blame from his quarterback, who seems to be having a tough time with his team's struggles.
"Yeah, me and him have talked. He doesn’t need to say that," said Holgorsen during his Tuesday press conference with media. "His is one of many positions that play football here. If he thinks that all this falls on his shoulders he’s sadly mistaken.
"He’s one of our leaders. He’s a tremendous football player, he cares more than anybody. This doesn’t fall on his shoulders. This falls on my shoulders. It falls on all of our coaches and all of our players. He’s only one."
Even if Smith deserved more blame than he actually does, he still needs to maintain his confidence. Besides, with plenty more Big 12 football on the schedule, beginning next week against TCU, Smith will get his chance to make some noise.