West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith tied the record for any college football bowl game with six touchdown passes as the Mountaineers routed Clemson 70-33 in the Orange Bowl Wednesday. Smith's effort was just one of several records to fall on a chilly Florida night, with the Mountaineers setting a new mark for the highest scoring half in a bowl game by leading 49-20 at halftime. West Virginia piled on five touchdowns in the second quarter, including three in the final 2:29. One of them came when safety Darwin Cook had a comic coming together with the Orange Bowl mascot Obie. That came when Cook made the pivotal play by returning a fumble 99 yards for a touchdown to break the game open. “I always envisioned making great plays,” Cook said. “If you think it will happen, it will happen.” Tavon Austin also tied a record for any bowl game with four touchdown receptions. Smith completed 31 of 42 pass attempts, and had 401 yards passing to break Tom Brady's Orange Bowl record. Smith also ran for a score, helping West Virginia break the bowl record for points, which was established just six nights earlier when Baylor beat Washington 67-56 in the Alamo Bowl. “Never could we imagine we'd put up 70 points,” Smith said. The Mountaineers (10-3) won in their first Orange Bowl appearance and improved to 3-0 in Bowl Championship Series games. “The guys wanted to come in and make a statement, and the only way you can do that is if you play well on all three sides of the ball,” coach Dana Holgorsen said. Clemson (10-4) lost playing in its first major bowl in 30 years. “We're a better team than we played tonight,” coach Dabo Swinney said. “Just too many mistakes. But we'll be back.” “You don't score 70 points by being good on offense,” Holgorsen said. “You score 70 points by being good on all three sides of the ball.”
