Geno Smith Reflects on Historic Orange Bowl Win with West Virginia

Geno Smith has 30 career wins as an NFL starting quarterback to date, but the biggest win of his football career happened as a Mountaineer. And even if Smith ends up winning NFL playoff games, his Orange Bowl title with West Virginia will clearly be a game and moment he’ll never forget.

So when Smith saw a WVU fan post a video with highlights of West Virginia’s Orange Bowl win over Clemson on social media, the Seattle Seahawks’ QB1 couldn’t resist commenting.

“Walked home after the game with the trophy and the fam,” said Smith.

Walked home after the game w the trophy and the fam https://t.co/0Uo1Jbiian

— Geno (@GenoSmith3) July 28, 2024

Just like Smith, Mountaineer Nation will never forget that night either, especially because WVU delivered an historic performance after being doubted leading up to the game.

Back on January 4, 2012, WVU beat Clemson 70-33 and won the Orange Bowl. The 70 points scored by the Geno Smith-led offense broke the record set just a week earlier for most points scored by a team ever in a bowl game. While Army did tie this record in the Armed Forces Bowl in 2018, it has still never been surpassed.

Below is a list from Wikipedia of the other records WVU either broke or tied in that big win.

• Team touchdowns: West Virginia’s touchdowns tied the record.
• Combined points in a half: The 69 points between West Virginia and Clemson at halftime set a new record.
• Total points: West Virginia’s 70 points broke the record set one week earlier by Baylor in the 2011 Alamo Bowl. This particular record would be tied by Army in the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl.
• Points in a quarter: West Virginia’s 35 points in the second quarter set a new record.
• Points in a half: West Virginia’s 49 points in the first half set a new record. The previous record was 45, held by Colorado at the 1999 Insight.com Bowl and Oklahoma State at the 1988 Holiday Bowl. This record stood until the 2018 Music City Bowl, when Auburn led Purdue 56–7 at halftime, going on to win 63–14.
• Individual passing touchdowns: Geno Smith’s six touchdowns tied Chuck Long’s record in the 1984 Freedom Bowl.
• Individual total touchdowns: Smith also rushed for a touchdown, giving him seven overall which tied another record.
• Individual total points: Smith’s seven touchdowns scored 42 points, also tying a record.
• Individual receiving touchdowns: Tavon Austin’s four touchdown receptions, becoming the fourth player to do so in a bowl game.

Despite the great memories from that victory, both Smith and WVU are hungry for another win of the same magnitude in the near future.

For a related story, Geno Smith talks about leading the Seahawks into a new era.

Geno Smith Talks New Era for Seahawks: ‘Iron Sharpens Iron’