West Virginia University safety Marcis Floyd (24) tackles a TCU ballcarrier during last Saturday’s 24-21 victory. (Photo by BlueGoldNews.com)

MORGANTOWN — With the news as good as it could have been on the medical front coming out of Texas, where West Virginia escaped a night of physical football with a 24-21 victory over TCU to its winning streak to four games and its record to 4-1, the Mountaineers took both Sunday and Monday to recover in what is passing for a bye week this year.

Safety Aubrey Burks, who silenced a raucous crowd when he lay unconscious on the floor after taking a knee to the head while making a vicious tackle, leading to his being strapped to a backboard and carted off the field, was back home and walking around by Monday.

“All his tests were negative,” Coach Neal Brown said at his Monday press conference before beginning real preparations for a trip to Houston on Thursday, October 12, to face former coach Dana Holgorsen as it attempts to continue to shock the nation.

“He’s in good spirits and is going to be OK. It was the best possible result,” Brown said.

Burks is in the concussion protocol but Brown believes there’s a chance he could be ready by Houston and, if not, he would be replaced by Ben Cutter, a freshman who has done a big-time job as his backup

“He did some good things,” Brown said. “He’s played a good number of snaps this year (on defense and special teams) and is ready to do it if necessary.”

And the news on linebacker Trey Lathan, a redshirt freshman who suffered an ugly broken ankle during the game, resulting in him being carted off the field, the news was that he underwent surgery in Fort Worth done by the TCU medical team and was coming home on Monday.

“He will miss the year but is expected to make a full recovery,” Brown said, thanking his own team’s training and medical staff and TCU’s for helping him through this.

There were a couple of other injuries to starting players in the game, both on the left side of the offensive line. Tackle Wyatt Milum, who the previous week played so well that he was the rare offensive lineman named the team’s top offensive player, got a finger in the eye.

He wanted to return, according to Brown, who said “If it were a boxing match, they would have stopped the fight.” The eye was swollen shut; Brown expects him back for Houston.

Then there was left guard Tomas Rimac, who has performed well since being inserted in the lineup last season. He injured his leg on an extra point and right now it is iffy whether he will be back for the Houston game.

Backups Ja’Quay Hubbard and Nick Malone filled in well, although it may have affected the situation when the Mountaineers were stopped on third and fourth down inside the TCU 3.

Garrett Greene scare: Quarterback Garrett Greene, who tweaked the ankle that had kept him out of much of the Pitt game and all of the Texas Tech game late in the TCU encounter, didn’t have a serious injury.

It was his birthday on Sunday and is expected to be ready for practice when the team regathers on Wednesday.

“He moved better than I anticipated (in the TCU game),” Brown added.

Ballcarrier issues: Brown again noted that CJ Donaldson is not giving him the explosiveness he expected to see from him in this second year.

The 240-pound back had 61 yards in 22 carries against TCU and over the past two games has just 109 yards in 37 attempts, only 2.9 yards per attempt.

Brown would point out after his press conference that his TCU performance may have been affected by not only those two starting offensive linemen being injured by the fact that the two injured defensive players — Lathan and Burks — are two of his closest friends on the team.