Bryson Barnes reportedly gets starting nod for Utah State against USC

Utah State will be reportedly be without Spencer Petras against USC.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Saturday night ahead of the Aggies’ matchup with the No. 13-ranked Trojans that Petras will be unavailable due to an ankle sprain suffered in USU’s season opener against Robert Morris.

University of Utah transfer Bryson Barnes is expected to start at quarterback in Petras’ place.

The news isn’t too surprising as Petras injured his left ankle, the ankle on the foot he plants when he throws, and it was a severe enough injury that he was in a boot the entire second half of Utah State’s season opener. He was considered day-to-day, though, beginning on Monday.

Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling said on his weekly coaches show Wednesday that Petras was doing well, all things considered, and was out of his boot and throwing in practice, but he expressed considerable confidence in Barnes.

“The thing with Bryson, your backup quarterback goes in and he gets off to a rough start, most teams would panic,” Dreiling said. “But Bryson is so confident and has played in so many snaps that it didn’t affect him and he ended up on a heater. ... The best part about it is with the offense they don’t care if it is Spencer or Bryson.

“They have so much confidence in both of them. Both of them bring a different element and hopefully defenses will have to prepare for two different quarterbacks.”

As mentioned by Dreiling, Barnes struggled early in relief of Petras against Robert Morris. To close out the second quarter, Barnes completed only 2 of 7 pass attempts and threw an interception.

Coming out of halftime, though, he was a completely different player and ended up throwing for nearly 200 yards (198) and two touchdowns while also rushing for 88 yards and a score.

Barnes has a history with USC going back to his time at Utah. Last year, while the Utes’ starting QB, Barnes went to Los Angeles and helped Utah defeat USC.

It was a notable performance for Barnes, a former walk-on, as he competed 14 of 23 pass attempts for 235 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

He also rushed for 57 yards and a score in the win.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley praised Barnes ahead of the matchup between Utah State and USC , saying, “I think it’s helpful any time you’ve been on the field with a guy and a guy like him that’s been a very good player.

“We got to see him play well. We have a lot of respect for him as a player. He did a nice job coming in the other day obviously. Led them to to victory had a huge scramble that he popped a long touchdown run and offense really executed well when he was in there which is no surprise, so yeah, a lot of respect for him.”

Behind Barnes on the Aggies’ depth chart at quarterback is former BYU/Arizona State quarterback Jacob Conover, with former Boise State quarterback CJ Tiller next up after that.