After putting up 69-points with ease, it is hard to not look at why West Virginia has so much success offensively. Yes there is the simple answer – because Geno Smith is a great quarterback, and he has talented receivers to throw to – but there also is a statistical, numerical way to look at things.

The Mountaineer offense moved the ball more than efficiently up and down the field during WVU’s 69-34 win over Marshall. In West Virginia’s eight scoring drives, the Mountaineers on average only needed two minutes and eleven seconds to get it up the field and score. Their longest drive was their opening drive that lasted three minutes and thirty-six seconds resulting in a Stedman Bailey touchdown catch. Their shortest drive was a mere forty-four seconds, going 83 yards highlighted by a Tavon Austin reverse run for seventy yards. (see drive chart below)

“I thought our tempo was real good. We’re going to vary tempos and go fast when we can,” said Head Coach Dana Holgorsen, “It’s all about it looking good.”

Holgorsen’s offense set the tone from their opening snap, that they we’re going to control the clock, and really quarterback Geno Smith has everything to do with the offense looking good.

“As you can tell he’s seasoned, it’s the best quarterback I’ve been around from an operations standpoint, from a handling the game standpoint, getting the calls in, taking care of the football and checking plays,” added Holgorsen.

Smith was 32 of 36 with 323 passing yards and four touchdowns throwing the ball.

The scary part is WVU did all of this while running the football well. There was nearly perfect balance on Saturday with the offense picking up 331 yards on the ground and 324 yards through the air. If West Virginia does all of this by just passing, it maybe even a shorter amount of time.

Check out the longest and shortest drive charts below:

LONGEST
WEST VIRGINIA drive start at 12:32.
1-10 WVU 06 Austin, Tavon rush for 6 yards to the WVU12 (SPARROW, B.).
2-4 WVU 12 Smith, Geno pass complete to Austin, Tavon for 6 yards to the WVU18, 1ST DOWN WVU P1
(WAITERS, Raheem).
1-10 WVU 18 Alston, Shawne rush for 10 yards to the WVU28, 1ST DOWN WVU (LEGRANDE, D.;SPARROW, B.). R2
1-10 WVU 28 Smith, Geno pass complete to Thompson, Jorda for 8 yards to the WVU36 (LEGRANDE, D.).
2-2 WVU 36 Smith, Geno pass complete to Buie, Andrew for 9 yards to the WVU45, 1ST DOWN WVU, P3
out-of-bounds (WAITERS, Raheem).
1-10 WVU 45 Smith, Geno pass complete to Austin, Tavon for loss of 2 yards to the WVU43 (ARRINGTON,
D.).
2-12 WVU 43 Alston, Shawne rush for 9 yards to the MARSHALL48 (BAZZIE, Alex), PENALTY MARSHALL X4
illegal use of hands (MCKELVEY, Evan) 15 yards to the MARSHALL33, 1ST DOWN WVU.
1-10 Marshall 33 1st and 10.
1-10 Marshall 33 Alston, Shawne rush for 1 yard to the MARSHALL32 (MCKELVEY, Evan;OKOROHA, O.).
2-9 Marshall 32 Smith, Geno pass complete to Bailey, Stedman for 32 yards to the MARSHALL0, 1ST DOWN WVU, P5
TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:56.
1-G Marshall 03 Bitancurt, Tyle kick attempt failed.
West Virginia 6, Marshall 0
9 plays, 94 yards, 3:36

SHORTEST
WEST VIRGINIA drive start at 07:06.
1-10 WVU 17 Austin, Tavon rush for 70 yards to the MARSHALL13, 1ST DOWN WVU, out-of-bounds (BAXTER, R16
Keith).
1-10 Marshall 13 Smith, Geno pass complete to Austin, Tavon for 7 yards to the MARSHALL6 (MCKELVEY, Evan).
2-3 Marshall 06 Smith, Geno pass complete to Austin, Tavon for 6 yards to the MARSHALL0, 1ST DOWN WVU, P17
TOUCHDOWN, clock 06:25.
1-G Marshall 03 Bitancurt, Tyle kick attempt good.
West Virginia 27, Marshall 10
3 plays, 83 yards, 0:44