Why Bryson Barnes was impressed by Nate Dreiling against USC

There wasn’t a whole lot to be impressed with from Utah State Saturday night against USC.
The Aggies were thoroughly outplayed in every facet of football — save for maybe on special teams — and never really proved competitive against the Trojans.
It was a far cry from what was hoped for, even if an upset of USC by USU was a long shot from the beginning.
About the only thing that could really be gleaned from the 48-0 loss, the worst for Utah State since a 55-0 loss at Alabama two years ago, was that the Aggies never stopped competing.
Even while USC scored touchdown after touchdown, the Aggies kept playing hard. It was especially obvious on defense. The hits delivered by Aggie defenders never lessened in their intensity, even as the deficit grew larger and larger and the USU offense proved unable to make up any ground.
The lack of quit by the Aggies could be tied directly to interim head coach Nate Dreiling, quarterback Bryson Barnes said after the game.
Barnes — a transfer from the University of Utah who played for Kyle Whittingham, who is generally regarded as one of the best coaches in all of college football — noted that Dreiling refused to let his team back down, even after things were completely out of hand.
“I mean we are tough dudes, but a lot of times when you see teams get down (like that), heads start going down and they stop playing, they start quitting,” Barnes said. “… The message with Coach Dreiling was don’t quit. Continue to be tough, continue to hit them in the mouth. Never give up.
“When you have a head coach like that, telling that to the players, that is a good guy to follow behind. I don’t think people really understand how much that matters. You are down three, four, five, six scores and you have your head coach saying, ‘Never quit. Never quit.’ And he got us players buying into that. From snap one to the final snap, everyone was giving it their all and I really think that has to do with coach really putting that into our heads.”
Dreiling, for his part, was upbeat after the loss. In large part because his team didn’t quit. The Aggies’ unfailing effort even left him able to crack jokes while talking with USC head coach Lincoln Riley during the fourth quarter.
During a game delay — the power was spotty at LA Memorial Coliseum throughout the second half — Dreiling asked Riley if the game should end in a draw if it were called early. It was clearly a lighthearted quip and one Dreiling was especially pleased with.
“He didn’t think it was as funny as I did,” Dreiling added, with a wry smile.
A win against USC would have required something close to perfection from the Aggies and that definitely didn’t happen. But USU competed hard, no matter the result. Explaining Dreiling’s upbeat attitude.
“If you were going beat this team, everything has to go perfect, right? Dreiling said. “… Regardless, I’m so proud of how resilient this team was. It didn’t show on the scoreboard, but these kids played hard and that is what it is all about.”
Dreiling did get serious when he noted that there are plenty of things for Utah State to work on going forward. That isn’t surprising after a 48-0 shutout. But there is opportunity to be had with improvement, particularly in Mountain West Conference play, which remains a few weeks away for Utah State.
“I think the big thing (this game) does, is whether you win or lose you need to look at what you can get better at,” Dreiling said. “We will dive into the film and make sure, scheme-wise were we good? Or was it just a matchup issue?”
Utah State hosts rival Utah on Saturday and Dreiling did not shy away from the fact that the Utes may be an even better team than USC is, though Utah QB Cam Rising’s health and availability looms as a major wildcard.
“You look at who we’ve got next week, we’ve got maybe an even better opponent in Utah coming to Logan,” Dreiling said. “That is a team that wants to run the football and be physical and that is a brand of football we want to play as well.”
Dreiling said from the moment he was named the interim head coach of the Aggies, improvement was never going to be immediate. Dreiling is trying to build something in Logan and it will take time. And maybe a few dismal losses along the way.
“We know we have a long ways to go,” he said, “but as long as we are a little bit better than yesterday, that is our whole mindset.”
One of the biggest issues, traditionally, for Utah State when playing a team of the caliber of USC have been injuries.
Too often against power conference opponents the Aggies have lost key players to injuries — sometimes of the season-ending variety. It happened against LSU in 2019, Alabama in 2022 and Iowa last season.
Utah State left Los Angeles largely unscathed, though, at least when it comes to any serious injuries, and Dreiling noted that there is considerable optimism that quarterback Spencer Petras will be available to play soon, after he missed the USC game with a left ankle sprain.
“He (Petras) is getting close and closer,” Dreiling said. “We thought we might have him for this game. He is still going to be day-to-day, but hopefully we will have both of them (Petras and Barnes) available for the Utah game.”