Saturday’s season opener for Utah State didn’t go exactly according to script, but neither was it a disappointment for the most part as the Aggies won decisively against their FCS opponent, Robert Morris by a 36-14 score. It didn’t meet the expectations of Vegas, but a 22-point win in which you shut out an opponent in the second half should always be suitable.
The Colonials turned out to be the perfect opponent for USU to not only work out the cobwebs on offense, but also figure out what the O would look like in the event that quarterback Spencer Petras had to be replaced by Bryson Barnes since that’s a thing that happened in the game. Petras left the game at the 7:23 mark of the second quarter, leaving Barnes to lead the offense for the remainder of the game, which he did rather well all things considered.
Before getting to Barnes, though, it’s necessary to analyze how the Aggies performed under Petras since there was some talk of the offense being bad with him as the QB since USU had only scored 10 points by the middle of the second quarter and that wasn’t on pace with the scoring expectations for the game that were in the high 40s or even 50s. It makes some sense on the surface but isn’t really backed up by the stats or the film. By no means was Petras elite or incredibly underrated in his Saturday performance, but it’s also easy to see how the Aggies were overall doing well with him behind center.
In the less than a quarter-and-a-half of play before Petras went out, Utah State gained 235 yards in 29 plays, good for 8.1 yards per play. That average was on par with USU’s best offensive performances of 2023 (8.6 vs Idaho State and 7.6 against Colorado State). What kept the Aggies from scoring touchdowns on four of its first five drives were penalties and two interceptions. Dreiling called those plays “self-inflicted wounds.”
“The first half, offense is rolling, and then Jalen [Royals] slips on a ground, the ball’s intercepted. We’re moving, and we have a holding penalty, or a false start, Dreiling said. “We just put ourselves in too many second and third extended in second longs by self-inflicted wounds.”
As briefly noted by Dreiling, one of those two interceptions was far from Petras’ fault, and you could make the argument that the second wasn’t either. One of Utah State’s receivers, Kyrese White, certainly made that claim.
“I hope people aren’t discouraged by what happened on Saturday. Because, the two interceptions — not his fault,” White said. “That’s on the receivers.”
Let’s take a quick look at both of the interceptions to see what White was getting at.
The first pick thrown by USU in the game was arguably the most obviously not the quarterback’s fault and is the one Dreiling mentioned. On an eight-yard slant route, Jalen Royals slipped on his pivot to the middle but by that time, Petras had already begun the throw and the pass easily fell into the hands of the awaiting cornerback, Tyris Harvey.
It’s hard to give Royals a ton of grief for this since the entirety of his blame comes down to something that’s arguably not in his control. The play is basically a bad break and it ended a drive that had already gone 54 yards down the field and showed no signs of not going the distance until that very play.
Blame for the second of Petras’ interceptions could be placed somewhat in his hands, but also some on the shoulders of Otto Tia. Petras threw a dart on a hitch route over the middle but Tia was bullied off his spot by Harvey who secured his second INT of the day.
If you fully take blame of these interceptions off Petras, then by charting each of his 15 attempts, 12 of them were entirely on target. And only one of the three off-target throws was within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage (an overthrow on a screen pass to Royals at the line of scrimmage). Of course, we can’t just leave out the deep passes and call it good, and this is where Petras’ faults largely lie. On the two deep throws Petras attempted, he had a man downfield open for potentially lethal yardage. The first attempt was to Colby Bowman who had two steps on his man up the right sideline, but Petras overthrew him by several yards. Later, Petras spotted Kyrese White and tried to force it into a window that had already closed. Both incompletions were Petras’ fault as he failed to deliver his end of the play. Even granting the increased difficulty of those passes, the fact remains that Petras has to complete these passes to get the most out of this offense and it’s his responsibility to do so.
Looking at Petras’ performance that way, you can see why the coaches and his teammates have the upmost confidence in their QB1.
“Spencer Petras is a very good quarterback and I have 1,000 percent confidence in him,” White said.
But what about Barnes? It seems inevitable that he will always have to take snaps as an injury fill-in, as he did so in each of 2021, 2022 and 2023 with the University of Utah as the Utes had to deal with almost constant injury problems at quarterback. The apparent curse on starting QBs ahead of Barnes seems to now be upon Utah State and Petras is no guarantee to play against USC even though his ankle injury seems to be fairly minor. Dreiling wouldn’t give any specifics when asked for an update on Monday, simply saying Petras is “day-to-day.”
When Barnes first checked into the game, the offense pretty much stalled. If you count him coming in as the start of a new drive (he came in on a 1st and 10 so you can kind of get away with that logic) then Barnes’ first two drives were three-and-outs with the offense gaining 11 yards in six total plays (nine of that being on the single completion Barnes had in all of that). Then, on his third drive, there was less than 50 seconds remaining in the half, which limited what the offense could accomplish anyway. Barnes scrambled for an 11-yard gain, completed a pass for 13 yards, and threw a desperate deep pass that led to an inconsequential interception with 11 seconds left in the half (albeit a pretty cool-looking pick by the cornerback).
During the start of the second half, though, Barnes hit his stride. He combined both his arm and legs to account for 286 total yards and three touchdowns (split up its 198 passing yards and two TDs with 88 rushing yards and one TD). His completion percentage wasn’t the greatest, sitting just barely over 50 percent as he completed 11 of 21 passes, and that’s something Barnes will have to get better at if the Aggies will have any prayer against USC. Because while Petras had essentially one bad pass plus a couple misses on deep throws, Barnes had accuracy issues throughout the night at all levels of the field. He also showed a tendency to laser in on one receiver and not see the entire field. The positive thing, though, is Barnes had multiple big throws that show he’s a capable enough field general.
Easily the best of Barnes’ throws was this 30-yard go-up-and-get-it completion where Barnes let Royals use his talent to create a big play that would help set up a field goal later in the drive.
Barnes also had another big completion to Royals, a 21-yard touchdown pass, and found Will Monney for a 31-yard gain. Although, just as important as being able to find those completions are, one of his sneakiest skill on display was his running which showed up on his 63-yard scramble that gave USU a two-score lead early in the fourth quarter.
This run showcases the difference between a pocket quarterback and a true ground threat. Petras would have picked up around 7-8 yards, maybe have gotten the first down if he was aggressive about it. Even previous USU quarterbacks like Jordan Love or Logan Bonner, wouldn’t have picked up much more than Petras. There’s a limit to what they can do with their legs. Barnes? Well, he can turn a 7-8 yard gain for the average QB and turn it into 63 yards. And that’s the line between being able to run and being a threat to run.
A long story made short, Utah State’s offense went part of the way to proving Dreiling’s confidence in it right. If the two interceptions in the first quarter had been avoided, the Aggies would probably have gone up 21-0, let alone what they could have accomplished the rest of the way (especially if the injury to Petras also hadn’t occurred). It would’ve line up with Dreiling’s previous comments, which he re-iterated on Monday, that the offense can “score every single time they touch the ball.”
In a small sample size, Petras seemed to prove he’s very capable of leading this offense. He was accurate, poised, made great reads and good decisions, and was mainly a victim of some bad luck, both with interceptions and getting his ankle rolled up on a scramble. If the Petras that showed up on Saturday is the one USU will get for most of the 11 remaining games, the offense is in good hands. And Barnes is a workable substitute, and has enough of a unique style of play that it can confound defense when confronted with the change in what they have to account for.
A big key to why Petras can work so well, and why Barnes can step in just fine, is that the rest of the offense around them had suck a great game. The offensive line did a stellar job in pass blocking. They allowed a mere four total pressures in 40 total dropbacks and didn’t give up a single sack. Petras and Barnes had all the time they needed and had lanes to scramble through if necessary. And in run blocking? There was plenty of praise for a unit that paved the way for the running backs to average 8.4 yards per carry, gaining 210 yards in 25 attempts. The offense as a whole gained 303 yards on the ground.
“They did a good job,” Dreiling said. “They kind of get highlighted poorly on a could of the holding (penalties) that hurt some drives, but other than that, we’re talking about finishing blocks and working to the next level. I don’t care if you get 300 yards (rushing) vs a a seventh grade team, it’s hard to run the ball that much. So hats off to those guys.”
USU’s wide receivers, too, are just about as good as expected. Sure, the two early interceptions were partially their fault, but how poorly could the game have gone if White didn’t take two short completions and turn them into a pair of 50-yard gains? Royals made multiple long catches and Tia even had a couple tough catch-and-run plays.
Probably the biggest thing that was learned about Utah State’s offense is that it is fully capable of doing the things Dreiling believes it can, but it needs to figure out getting out of its own way. Dreiling said it himself.
“We have to be on point. And that’s what we learned,” Dreiling said.
Nine penalties (on the offense alone) for 90 yards and three turnovers, no matter what excuses exist around them, aren’t going to cut it. If those keep happening, it’ll be a long season of could’ve-would’ve-should’ve and a lot of games with points left off the scoreboard. Robert Morris was never likely to punish the Aggies for doing that. USC, Utah and a bunch of Mountain West teams will happily take advantage if it happens again.
