West Virginia Football: Can Geno Smith Make a Heisman Trophy Run?

Geno Smith isn't just capable of making a Heisman Trophy run—he might be the odds-on favorite to win.

The West Virginia quarterback has been sensational in the Mountaineers' two victories this season. West Virginia has put up 111 points in its two blowout wins, most of which were supplied by Smith himself.

A Mountaineer has never won the prestigious trophy, but Smith has put himself in a great position to do just that. Here's why...

He's Got the Stats

Stats are king when it comes to the Heisman race, and Smith isn't lacking in that department.

Through two games, Smith has thrown for 734 yards and nine touchdowns. He's completed 66 of his 75 passes as well—an eye-popping 88 percent completion rate.

Let that sink in. The guy's actually thrown as many touchdowns as incompletions.

What's even more impressive is that Smith hasn't played more than a minute in the fourth quarter of either game. He's put up these numbers in essentially six quarters of play. That's unbelievable.

As ridiculous as the numbers are, it is important to recognize that West Virginia has played Marshall and James Madison. Neither team would be considered a football giant.

There are going to be skeptics of Smith's performances. But there shouldn't be.

While the stats will inevitably fall a bit (no one can sustain that kind of production for a full season), it's hard to imagine a nose dive. Smith has already proven that he can play at an extremely high level.

Last year, Smith threw for 4,385 yards and 31 touchdowns against just seven interceptions. His year was highlighted by a memorable Orange Bowl, in which he torched an overwhelmed Clemson defense for 407 yards and six touchdowns.

He looks even better this year—a scary thought for his Heisman competitors. He'll put up great numbers all year, and the stats will keep him firmly entrenched in the Heisman race.

He Passes the Eye Test

Heisman trophy winners have moments during their season. Moments that just make fans shake their heads and think, “My God, that guy is good.”

Cam Newton had his run against LSU. Robert Griffin III had a last-second touchdown pass against No. 5 Oklahoma.

Smith hasn't had a chance for such theatrics yet (not in two blowout wins), but he's already had more than his fair share of memorable plays.

The most impressive of these plays is his touchdown run against Marshall. Smith took a broken play and turned it into an easy touchdown. It was so fluid that at first glance you would have never guessed that the run wasn't by design.

He just passes the eye test. You walk away from pretty much every West Virginia game thinking, “Geno Smith was the best player on the field tonight.” That matters in the Heisman race, and it's a big reason that Smith is among the front-runners for the trophy.

He Plays for a Good Team

As important as numbers are for Heisman candidates, it's equally important to play on a good team.

Only one player has ever played for a losing team and won the Heisman - Notre Dame's Paul Hornung in 1956 (Notre Dame went 2-8 that year).

Honestly, it's unlikely that anyone repeats Hornung's feat. Wins and losses are too big a factor in the modern college football world. Today's Heisman hopefuls have to play for a ranked team to get consideration.

It's not a problem that Smith should have to face. West Virginia (ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press poll—per ESPN) is a good team with a chance to be legitimately great.

The Mountaineers will face Texas, Kansas State, TCU and Oklahoma this year. All are ranked teams that will give West Virginia some stiff competition. It will be up to Smith to lead the Mountaineers to victories in these games.

The numbers will definitely be there, and if Smith is able to lead West Virginia to an undefeated or one-loss season, he'll have to be given some serious consideration from Heisman voters.

Early Favorites Are Struggling

Going into the season, the Heisman Trophy was considered USC quarterback Matt Barkley's to lose.

He may have done just that in USC's 21-14 loss to Stanford on Saturday.

Barkley completed less than half of his passes, failed to throw a touchdown and threw two interceptions in the loss.

Barkley now has some serious ground to make up, and some analysts (like CBSSports' Chris Huston) have gone so far as to say he's already been eliminated from the race.

Other early favorites have similarly struggled. Wisconsin's Montee Ball, Oklahoma's Landry Jones and Michigan's Denard Robinson have thus far failed to meet their lofty expectations.

Smith is actually one of the few preseason Heisman favorites that hasn't struggled.

Now, that's not to say that he has no competition. Players like Oregon's De'Anthony Thomas, Georgia's Aaron Murray and UCLA's Johnathan Franklin have been brilliant thus far.

But weak performances from the players mentioned above have put Smith in prime position to make a serious run in this wide-open Heisman Trophy race.