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It was finally the last one! The last time WVU would be legally obligated to play Marshall on the football field!
Also, for the first time in this series, I can honestly say I was at this one!
West Virginia was coming off an unbelievable 70-point performance in the Orange Bowl against Clemson and coming off some incredible hype as they entered the Big 12 Conference.
Marshall was coming off a 6-6 regular season and a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl championship, along with their fans’ crazy opinion that the Herd could bash WVU’s teeth in.
As you saw from that video, the game was over at halftime.
After Marshall punted away their first possession, Geno Smith found Stedman Bailey for a 32-yard touchdown pass.
The Herd went three and out and had to punt away again, then Smith found JD Woods to set up a Shawne Alston touchdown run to put WVU up 13-0 early.
Woods, Andrew Buie and Tavon Austin would all find the end zone in the second quarter as the Mountaineers would go into the locker room with a 34-10 lead, a far cry from the “we would’ve won if the game kept going” argument from Marshall fans the year before.
"We trust in one another and we know if we do that we can score and put up points."
-Geno Smith, Sep. 1, 2012
It was a good way to start the season and a fantastic way to complete the 7-0 run the Mountaineers had over the state-mandated football series.
In 2012, the Herd would finish with a 5-7 season and 4-4 in Conference USA. That season was the final season that Marshall’s conference was in its pre-conference realignment form.