Deja vu: Will it be Spencer Petras or Bryson Barnes at QB for Utah State football against Colorado State?

Utah State will end the season like it began it — with uncertainty at quarterback.
Spencer Petras was injured late in the second quarter of the Aggies’ victory over San Diego State Saturday, when he was sacked and ended up at the bottom of a pile up.
It was an eerily similar sequence to the one that caused his early season injury against Robert Morris in the Aggies’ season opener.
The latest injury is to Petras’ right arm — his throwing arm — and it kept him out the remainder of the Aggies’ game against the Aztecs.
The injury has also made his status for Utah State’s season finale against Colorado State an unknown right now.
“Yeah don’t know yet,” Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreilng said on Monday. “We will know more in the next 24 hours. Hurt his throwing arm. Waiting to get all of the reports back on that.”
If Petras is unable to go Friday, his collegiate career — which began back in 2018 — will officially come to an end.
The one-time three-star recruit out of California spent seven seasons at Iowa before transferring to Utah State last winter.
In his single season in Logan, Petras has thrown for 2,315 yards, 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Statistically, this season has been by far the best of his career, with him setting new career bests in completion percentage, passing yards and passing touchdowns.
If Petras is unable to play, he will be replaced by Bryson Barnes.
Much like he did early in the season against Robert Morris, Barnes filled in admirably in Petras’ absence over the weekend, leading USU to victory over San Diego State.
The former Utah Ute rushed for the most yards in a single game by a Utah State quarterback ever against the Aztecs, a record that had stood for nearly a decade. And Barnes did it while playing only a little over two quarters of football.
“Bryson is a winner,” Dreiling said. “He is one of the best winners I’ve ever been around.”
If Barnes is the guy, USU has plenty of confidence he can lead them to another victory, which would be the team’s fourth in the last five games.
“He just wants it more,” Dreiling said.
As evidence of that, Dreiling spoke to Barnes’ individual preparation. Game prep that Dreiling described in glowing terms.
“He (Barnes) prepares extremely hard, maybe harder than anyone in this building,” Dreiling said. “And that was when he was the backup quarterback. So I can’t imagine what he is going to do if he gets the reigns handed over to him this week.”
If it isn’t this week, Dreilng expects Barnes to be the starting quarterback for Utah State next season.
“Bryson has such a bright future,” he said. “He is a winner and his toughness level is unmatched. When it comes down to it, he is going to make the play because he is going to want it more. And he is so extremely tough. When you have a QB like that, you feed off it. It inspires everybody. Bryson is going to be unbelievable and I think he has a real chance next year to establish himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the Mountain West, if not the country.”