Geno Smith vs the Wind and Travel

[TheRedSon]

How much do West Virginia fans think the wind affected Smith?

I thought Tech played alright defensively, but I also thought Smith was nowhere near as accurate as he was against Baylor or Texas, even when he had plenty of time.

I know Holgosen's opinions on the wind in the plains, but he's spent a lot more time there, and much of that time coaching quarterbacks.

I don't think you'll have another game that windy. Lubbock is generally the worst. The stadium doesn't keep much of it out, and it probably blows more there than anywhere else anyway. Norman can be a tough place w/ regard to wind, but you don't go there this year. Stillwater's windy, but the stadium blocks a lot of it. Ames could be bad, and most likely cold by the time you get there, but your kids should be fine in the cold.

 

[amath13]

Originally posted by TheRedSon:
How much do West Virginia fans think the wind affected Smith?

I thought Tech played alright defensively, but I also thought Smith was nowhere near as accurate as he was against Baylor or Texas, even when he had plenty of time.

I know Holgosen's opinions on the wind in the plains, but he's spent a lot more time there, and much of that time coaching quarterbacks.

I don't think you'll have another game that windy. Lubbock is generally the worst. The stadium doesn't keep much of it out, and it probably blows more there than anywhere else anyway. Norman can be a tough place w/ regard to wind, but you don't go there this year. Stillwater's windy, but the stadium blocks a lot of it. Ames could be bad, and most likely cold by the time you get there, but your kids should be fine in the cold.

The wind was pretty bad & Geno had a tough time with it. There were a couple of occasions where he had an open receiver down the sideline & he threw a pass that he normally would hit & the ball sailed out of bounds. You could tell his confidence continually declined as the game went on. The only passes he seemed to complete with consistency were the underneath routes. And Texas Tech did a great job of not letting our WR's get any YAC. Prior to Saturday's game he was completing over 70% of his passes that were for 15 yards or longer. That was pretty much nonexistent on Saturday for Geno, although Doege didn't seem to have any problems with the wind on deep passes. Of course it helps when the receivers don't have a DB within 10 yards of them. All he had to do was get it in the vicinity.

 

[mule_eer]

Not to say that it wasn't a factor ...

but I think that there were some catchable deep balls that our receivers didn't come up with against TT. For the most part, they were getting those catches in every other game. Maybe it was wind affecting the trajectory, focus on the part of the receivers, or whatever, I don't think Geno was the only issue. He definitely had some bad throws, especially on a few out routes and some deep balls.

Hopefully, the guys learn from this experience, and we don't see anything like that again this season. I certainly don't expect to see it this weekend. I'm not saying that we will definitely beat KState, but I think we'll see a lot better execution on offense this week.

 

[TheRedSon]

Regarding Doege: I've never noticed a Tech quarterback have trouble with the wind in Lubbock. I'm sure it's happened, but not in a game I've watched. It's not just their home turf, it's also probably less windy than their practice field. It seems like it's a rare day in the panhandle of Texas when it's not blowing at least 20 mph sustained winds around 2:30, and 30 mph like this last weekend is fairly common. It's not quite as bad if it's an 11:30 or 7:00 start time. Leach and Holgorsen always said it had to be well over 25 mph to really effect their passing game.

I know there were some balls that could have been caught. There were a lot that seemed to sail on him too though. He looked like a different quarterback to me. It was different, but in a way it was as ugly as the Syracuse game last year when he was under pressure all night.

What about travel? Any discussion about three long flights to Texas in a week effecting the team? I suppose fatigue would also explain how they looked on Saturday. This is more travel than the Big 12 is used to for sure.

 

[raiderade88]

I was at the game, and then I also watched it on the DVR afterwards.
The announcers were constantly exaggerating how windy it actually was in that stadium.
All of the shots of the flags getting annihilated by the wind were above the cover of the stadium.
And obviously holgerson's "40 mph" wind quote was just reaching for excuses.

Doege's throws weren't sailing so I'm going to go ahead and just call it an off day for Geno. It happens.

 

[dave]

I think we fell behind 2 scores and since it wasn't likely the defense would make 5-10 stops the rest of the day, it put enormous pressure on the offense and then things like the wind and crowd became a factor. I don't think the wind would have been as big a factor if we had been able to run the ball better and executed better early in the game and not fallen so far behind.

 

[djo7051]

It was a little windy, but it may have just got in Geno Smith's head more than anything.. I have done it many times while playing golf.. If your game isn't exactly on, you look for excuses.. This league is way too difficult to bring your "B" game and expect to win.. Especially in Lubbock. I don't expect anyone will make it through unscathed.

OU is the best team in the conference, but KSU makes the fewest mistakes and as we all know that is typically the deciding factor in games where you have evenly matched teams.. I think WVU has the ability to win the rest of their games regardless of the poor defense. If WVU takes care of the ball, you guys will beat KSU this Saturday. If you don't, you will lose.

KSU will lose to someone in conference... If it's not WVU, it will be Tech, TCU or OSU. The Big 12 is deep and damn tough.

 

[SaikenPhase]

Physics doesnt compute with the "they practice in the wind" argument.

Wind bursts, its not constant. meaning that it is unpredictable and merely practicing in it does not let a tech qb magically be able to throw in it better, or somehow allow him to know how the wind in the stadium impact the flight of the ball.

This excuse is tired, and even our own fans use it as some BS reason to not have an indoor practice facility

 

[amath13]

Originally posted by djo7051:
It was a little windy, but it may have just got in Geno Smith's head more than anything.. I have done it many times while playing golf.. If your game isn't exactly on, you look for excuses.. This league is way too difficult to bring your "B" game and expect to win.. Especially in Lubbock. I don't expect anyone will make it through unscathed.

OU is the best team in the conference, but KSU makes the fewest mistakes and as we all know that is typically the deciding factor in games where you have evenly matched teams.. I think WVU has the ability to win the rest of their games regardless of the poor defense. If WVU takes care of the ball, you guys will beat KSU this Saturday. If you don't, you will lose.

KSU will lose to someone in conference... If it's not WVU, it will be Tech, TCU or OSU. The Big 12 is deep and damn tough.

It was definitely in his head, even though Geno got mad when asked about it & said the wind wasn't a factor. And while the wind had absolutely no impact on the outcome of the game, Geno definitely wasn't himself on Saturday. Part of it was Tech's defense, but there were other things going on as well. There were several deep balls that he usually hits right on the money & he was way off on Saturday. Even when the receivers had a step. But as I stated, there was no way we were going to beat the Red Raiders on Saturday regardless. We ran into a buzz saw.

 

[sleepraider]

raideraide is correct.
I've seen Geno play 4x (on tv) this year, and this was clearly his worst game.
I've watched > 30 home games in Lubbock and maybe once, maybe, would I sit there and say the wind was actually a factor.
Geno is a good qb, but this game exposed him- and that's why he got mad. No one likes getting exposed as either having an off day or only being 75% as good as people think you are. To me, it doesnt really matter if it was an off day or that he's not as good as everyone thought, but I'll say this- it wasnt the wind.

Want proof? The crappiest QB I've seen get meaningful play time at Texas Tech- his name is Taylor Potts- never once complained about the wind. He was a headcase, and he wasnt good at football (or at least the QB position).
Posted from wireless.rivals.com[/URL]

 

[amath13]

Originally posted by sleepraider:
raideraide is correct.
I've seen Geno play 4x (on tv) this year, and this was clearly his worst game.
I've watched > 30 home games in Lubbock and maybe once, maybe, would I sit there and say the wind was actually a factor.
Geno is a good qb, but this game exposed him- and that's why he got mad. No one likes getting exposed as either having an off day or only being 75% as good as people think you are. To me, it doesnt really matter if it was an off day or that he's not as good as everyone thought, but I'll say this- it wasnt the wind.

Want proof? The crappiest QB I've seen get meaningful play time at Texas Tech- his name is Taylor Potts- never once complained about the wind. He was a headcase, and he wasnt good at football (or at least the QB position).

Posted from wireless.rivals.com

Exposed him? lol Geno isn't a robot. He's going to have bad games. And when you have a defense as poor as ours, there is nothing he can do about that. The only thing that was exposed last weekend is that you can't win every game with a defense as bad as ours.

 

[sleepraider]

he scored 7 points. He had a bad day. But that exposed (sorry, I dont think it's too harsh) him as a good QB having a bad day, but far from a world beater. That's all I meant by exposed.
Posted from wireless.rivals.com[/URL]

 

[superjames1992]

Seth Doege didn't seem to have much trouble with the wind........

Maybe without the wind he could have passed for 700 yards, but 499 was a nice total.

 

[dedhoops24]

We appreciate the feedback and lesson, but let's not get to excited TT fans, we'll see where both teams finish the year and then discuss it. As for the wind, you are correct in saying the wind itself did not affect Geno, what has been clearly stated by Holgorsen is the fact that the perception of the wind affected Geno's mindset and he started thinking about it more than he should of.

It happens to the best of them, he will learn a valuable mental lesson from it and move on...

 

[amath13]

Originally posted by superjames1992:
Seth Doege didn't seem to have much trouble with the wind........

Maybe without the wind he could have passed for 700 yards, but 499 was a nice total.

Doege also had WR's running down the field & there wasn't a defensive back within 30 yards of them. I could have thrown for 300 yards on our defense, wind or no wind. All you had to do was get the ball in the same ball park as the receiver & it was a TD.

 

[MikeRafone]

Due to geography, lots of sharp high ridges looming over narrow valleys,WV is one of the least windy places in North America. Where else do TV weathermen refer to a steady six mile an hour breeze as being "windy"?

The wind in Lubbock definitely was a factor. The only WVU receiver that seemed to know how to deal with it was a freshman,from where? Texas. Smith,a precision passer, was obviously effected by it.

I can remember when the deal to go into the Big 12 was finalized. My first thought re: football was "How is WVU going to deal with traveling to back to back games on the Great Plains?" The second was "It's going to take some time for these East Coast kids to learn to deal with the wind."

They'll get used to the wind. The travel is another thing.