MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia player who received the biggest hug from coach Dana Holgorsen and the loudest ovation from the home crowd on the team’s senior day was not wearing a helmet or pads and didn’t play a single snap.
Before a season-ending knee injury in early October, safety Karl Joseph was the star of an aggressive and improved West Virginia defense. His absence wasn’t necessarily seen as a death knell for the Mountaineers, but it was a devastating blow for a team in the middle of its most trying stretch of the season.
What Joseph saw from the sideline in West Virginia’s 30-6 victory Saturday against Iowa State wasn’t a unit still recoiling from his loss; rather, it was a group that’s playing as well as it has since he anchored their secondary early in the season.