Orange Bowl 2012: Big East Champ WVU Routs Clemson, 70-33

If you had Clemson and 36 points last night, you lost.  The WVU Mountaineers did it again, they won their third straight BCS game, and it's hard to say which one was their most impressive.

In the 2006 Sugar Bowl, Rich Rodriguez's Mountaineers beat the 2005 SEC Champion Georgia Bulldogs, 38-35.  In the 2008, they beat the 2007 Big 12 Champion Oklahoma Sooners, in what was Bill Stewart's first game as Mountaineers coach, and last night they beat the 2011 ACC Champion Clemson Tigers under the tutelage of first year coach Dana Holgorsen.

Both teams were moving the ball at will last night when, with 10:28 left in the second quarter, Clemson was going in for a touchdown that would have given them a 24-21 lead.

Instead, the Mountaineers' Darwin Cook picked up a Clemson fumble on the WVU 1-yard line and raced 99 yards for a touchdown, making the score WVU 28, Clemson 17.

At this point the game changed, and WVU raced to a 49-20 halftime lead.  The game was pretty much over half-way through the second quarter.

The Mountaineers' junior quarterback Geno Smith went 31-for-42 for 401 yards and threw six touchdown passes.  Smith was selected as the game's MVP, and if he isn't right up there at the top of next year's Heisman list, something is wrong.

WVU was unstoppable as it piled up 589 yards of total offense and forced four Clemson turnovers.  The Mountaineers broke the all-time record for points scored in bowl game history.

Junior All-American Tavon Austin caught 11 passes for 117 yards, ran for 46 yards on four carries and returned five kickoffs for 117 yards.

Austin is another Mountaineer who has to be high up on next year's Heisman list.

WVU's defense did their job.  Their three down linemen put enough pressure on Clemson's quarterback Tajh Boyd that the defensive backs were able to keep the Tigers' super freshman receiver Sammy Watkins quiet all night.

The Mountaineers came into last night's game as a three-point underdog.  During the regular season they had to win their last three conference games just to grab a share of the Big East Championship.

WVU's low point might have come when they went on the road to Syracuse and lost 49-23—but after last night's performance, no one can doubt that they are one of the country's best team, and certainly one of the most explosive.

The Mountaineers finished 10-3, 5-2 and have to be a 2012 preseason top-10 pick. Clemson finished 10-3, 7-2.

Holgorsen did a great job in his first year as head coach, and no matter which conference the Mountaineers find themselves in next season, whether they move on to the Big 12 or stay in the Big East, they are going to give their opponents fits.

With Clemson's loss last night, and Virginia Tech's overtime loss to Michigan Tuesday night, the ACC has now dropped 13 of their last 15 BCS games.