MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Saturday marked the season debut for sophomore linebacker Brendan Ferns, who had been out since spring practice recovering from an ACL tear.
Ferns primarily played on special teams, though he also stepped in at middle linebacker on West Virginia’s final defensive possession. The four-star recruit has dealt with three severe injuries in as many seasons at WVU.
It will still be a waiting game for outside linebacker Quondarius Qualls, who returned to practice along with Ferns two weeks ago. The Mountaineers want to make sure Qualls only plays in four games to preserve his redshirt year. With the Big 12 championship game looming as a possibility, that meant holding him out one more week.
Holgorsen said middle linebacker Dylan Tonkery, who has warmed up the last two weeks, couldn’t go. When Shea Campbell left the game with a stinger, sophomore Zach Sandwisch took over at middle linebacker.
“I was happy with how he went in there and played,” Holgorsen said. “If you want to win the Big 12, you have to have backups.”
Sun may have been TCU’s best defense
By the time Biletnikoff candidate David Sills caught a fourth-quarter touchdown, he was atoning for dropping two TDs earlier.
Each of his drops occurred as Sills stared back into the afternoon sun and raised his hands a nano-second too late.
“A lot of it had to do with that bright sun,” said offensive coordinator Jake Spavital. “(Trevon) Wesco said he couldn’t even see his touchdown pass either until late, and he just reacted to it.”
Sills showed his best handy work on special teams, downing two punts inside the 1. One of those was overturned by replay for a touchback.
Stewart’s safety dance
While David Long produced three of West Virginia’s four sacks, the one by JoVanni Stewart actually produced points. The 5-foot-8 linebacker was wrestling Michael Collins toward the turf when the TCU quarterback flipped a pass to no one.
“It was a blitz where I shoot the B-gap and the end wraps,” Stewart said. “I was just reaching as hard as I can because I saw (Collins) was within my grasp. I sort of tossed him, but I knew by then the ball was out, so I didn’t think nothing of it. Then I got the sideline and saw them giving the ‘safety’ sign and I lost my mind.”
It marked WVU’s first safety since Kyle Rose sacked Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph in 2015.
— Allan Taylor contributed to this report.