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.”