Utah
How did Spencer Petras look in his return?
For months now, Utah State coaches — be it former head coach Blake Anderson, current interim head coach Nate Dreiling or offensive coordinator Kyle Cefalo — have sung the praises of Spencer Petras.
The quarterback transferred to Utah State in the winter after a long collegiate career at Iowa and then, by the end of spring camp, won the starting QB job at USU outright.
As such, Petras started the season opener against Robert Morris, only he barely played since he suffered an ankle sprain that was initially thought to be a high ankle sprain, which would’ve cost Petras at least half the season.
The injury didn’t turn out to be quite that bad, so Saturday against Temple — after missing back-to-back games against USC and Utah — Petras was back in action for the Aggies.
And he played the entire game, all four quarters of Utah State’s 45-29 loss to Temple.
So how did Petras do in his return?
The veteran QB finished with a line of 26 of 44 — a completion percentage of 59% — for 293 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
The 293 passing yards? That was a career high for Petras, breaking his former record of 265, set against Purdue in 2020.
The two touchdowns were the most of his Aggie career and not too far off his career high, which is three touchdown passes in a game.
His completion percentage was pretty on par for his career.
At Iowa he never finished a season with a completion percentage better than 60%.
There was good and there was bad.
Petras probably should’ve been intercepted another time or two. Temple defensive backs dropped multiple potential picks.
But Petras was fairly effective throwing the ball over the middle of the field — wide receiver Kyrese White was the main recipient and he finished the game with eight catches for 96 yards.
Petras isn’t a runner, but was only sacked twice, and he effectively ran Utah State’s RPO (run-pass-option) with running back Rahsul Faison for the majority of the game.
Dreiling, ultimately, was content with the performance. Not too high on Petras’ return, nor too critical.
“I thought he was spot on on most of his throws,” Dreiling said.
Dreiling admitted that he didn’t get to watch Petras play the entire game, as he spent a lot of time in the defensive huddle as USU’s defensive coordinator.
And he noted that on the interception that Petras threw, the ball — intended for wide receiver Jalen Royals — was “just a little high.”
Petras was, at times, pretty inaccurate with his throws. But he also strung together multiple drives where he picked apart the middle of the Temple defense.
The only real thing missing from his game was an effective deep ball, outside of a 28-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Jack Hestera, who was completely open after a busted Temple coverage late.
“The ball got out quick, he ran when he had to and he made good decisions on RPOs,” Dreiling said. “I mean our offense was clicking there for a while. They were moving the ball just about as good as anybody in the country. And then we just tailed off a little bit. I don’t know the reason why, but I think he (Petras) is going to continue to be a consistent guy who will put the ball where he needs to and spread it around.”
Utah
Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
Utah
Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
Utah
Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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