The pass play deep in his own territory was Geno Smith’s call Saturday night. The call sent in from Dana Holgorsen was a run, but Geno has the freedom to make changes based on things he sees — and when you look at his stats in the first three games, and then the fourth, you’d have to imagine he’s built a pretty good track record with these changes so far.

This one went bad, though.

The switch from a run to a quick pass led to an acrobatic interception by Tyrann Mathieu, whose play and return preceded a touchdown pass and a 27-7 halftime lead for the Tigers. Major moment in the game, but what might have been?

WVU had LSU outnumbered on the left side with three receivers and two defenders, one of which was a safety more than 10 yards off receiver Tavon Austin.

Smith changed the play to a quick screen to the Austin.

“I think if I would have gotten one or two blocks, I would have had a big play,” Austin said.

Mathieu sneaked in behind defensive end Sam Montgomery and blitzed from the left side. He stopped suddenly when he saw Smith square up to throw. Mathieu jumped and hit the ball with his right hand and then caught it on the move at the 17. Smith and Austin made the tackle.

“I didn’t see him,” left tackle Don Barclay said. “The guy made a great play.”

Holgorsen didn’t mind Smith checking out of the run to a pass, but he didn’t like Smith’s execution on the throw considering Mathieu was showing a blitz before the snap.

“We knew he was going to do that,” Holgorsen said. “That’s on Geno. If he thinks he can get it over him, then get it over him. He was aware that kid was pretty good and when he blitzed he was going straight up the field. It’s something Geno needs to do a better job of.”