Another week, another close loss for Idaho State football, which gave up a touchdown with eight seconds left in a 31-27 loss to UC Davis on Saturday. For a closer look at the Bengals’ performance, check out our position grades.

Quarterback: C+

Tyler Vander Waal’s inconsistencies continued to show up on Saturday. He’s thrown multiple interceptions in three out of four games this season — ISU’s three losses, not coincidentally — and even though his second pick against UC Davis was on a Hail Mary, the first one was bad, as he rolled left and zipped the ball into triple coverage on the goal line. That likely took at least three points away from ISU. He also missed some other throws, completing just over 50% of his passes. The interception capped a bad stretch that saw him go just 3 for 9 over the late third and early fourth quarters. On the other hand, he threw two gorgeous touchdowns to Xavier Guillory. UC Davis was the best scoring defense in the conference coming into the game, and Vander Waal led ISU to 27 points, the most the Aggies have given up this season. Plus, he led yet another late-game touchdown drive that had the Bengals in a position to win. It’s clear he’s not scared of the moment. It’s just that, had he been a little sharper in the game, that position might not have been so tenuous.

Running backs: C

It was feast or famine for Malakai Rango and Raiden Hunter, who opened the game with three runs of exactly 13 yards on their first four carries combined. For the game, Rango had four carries of 10 or more yards — but of his remaining 20 carries, 18 went for four yards or fewer. Same for Hunter — just four of his 10 carries went for five or more yards. That meant that ISU often wasn’t getting the consistent yardage it needed by running the ball on first down, pushing the Bengals behind the chains on second and third down. Rango finished with 89 yards on 24 carries, but 56 of those yards came on his four big runs.

Wide receivers: B-

A different freshman seems to step up for the receivers every week. Against UC Davis it was Xavier Guillory, who caught a 24-yard touchdown early and a 32-yard touchdown late.

Guillory now has four touchdowns in the last three games, and has four touchdowns on just nine catches this season. Despite that, it was probably the toughest game of the season for ISU’s precocious freshman pass-catchers. Jalen Henderson, coming off back-to-back 100-yard games, had just three catches for 21 yards and crucially muffed a punt, although that will reflect on the special teams grade. Christian Fredrickson had 38 yards on four catches. Jeff Harris had just one catch for seven yards. He had one seeming miscommunication with Vander Waal (that the quarterback confirmed in Monday’s press conference) and also dropped a ball. Tanner Conner could have had a much bigger day if a 57-yard deep ball — on which he dragged defenders for several yards after the catch — wasn’t called back for a hold. Shout out to senior tight end Nate Shubert, who wore No. 1 instead of his usual No. 89 because of an issue with his jersey. Shubert came a couple steps away from scoring two touchdowns after being tackled on the goal line after both of his grabs. The first, a 22-yard catch and run on which he bounced off multiple tacklers, was one for the highlight reel.

Offensive line: B-

The highs for the O-line on Saturday were the highest they’ve been all season. Vander Waal had all kinds of time on the 24-yard touchdown to Guillory in the first quarter, a late-developing deep post route. That’s the kind of play you call when you have plenty of confidence in the boys up front. They also held up on a crucial third and 15 in the fourth quarter, allowing Conner to sneak into a gap behind the UCD defense for a 37-yard gain. Some of the holes they opened up for Rango and Hunter were impressive. But the running game’s effectiveness dwindled as the game went on, and part of that was due to the line not getting enough push. Right tackle Tyler Clemons had two crucial holding penalties in the second quarter, with one wiping out the 57-yarder to Conner and another pushing the Bengals back from second-and-goal at the UCD 4 to second-and-goal at the UCD 14. ISU could only manage a field goal after the penalty. The Aggies also had three sacks. But the improvement, though slight, has been there to see for a very young offensive line.

Defensive line: C+

ISU had three sacks and seven tackles for loss, the Bengals’ finest performance in those categories this season — and none of them were credited to a defensive lineman. But there were glimpses of what this defense is supposed to look like, with the defensive linemen occupying blockers and opening things up for players like linebacker Darian Green, who had three TFLs. Raemo Trevino, who’s bounced around — nose tackle to end and then back to nose tackle this year — looked plenty comfortable in the middle and finished with six tackles. Terrance Jones fell on a fumble that Trevino created by forcing Davis quarterback Hunter Rodrigues out of the pocket. Rodrigues, one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the Big Sky, looked as uncomfortable as he has all year. And despite Lan Larison running for two long touchdowns — he had 95 yards on 12 carries — UCD averaged under four yards a carry.

Linebackers: A-

The impact from this group was as high as it’s been all year. Darian Green and Rasheed Williams each had eight tackles, Connor Wills and Oshea Trujillo each had seven. Green had three tackles for loss, including a sack that forced a fumble that ISU was unlucky not to recover. In fact, Green, an inside linebacker, looked like ISU’s best pass rusher with his bend back to the quarterback on the sack. Williams had a tackle for loss. Trujillo had a couple key tackles on third down. And Kennon Smith might have had the best game out of everybody, with 1 1/2 TFLs and an interception to close the first half. This is Idaho State’s best, deepest group.

Secondary: B

Jayden Dawson and Josh Alford weren’t tested as much as they have been, with only three combined tackles. The cornerbacks made Rodrigues spread the ball around, with only 10 of his 16 completions going to wide receivers, and Davis only had one completion longer than 15 yards, a 38-yarder to C.J. Hutton. Part of that credit has to be split with the front seven for not allowing Rodrigues much time to throw, but still an impressive effort from the young corners. With Manase Time still out, it was Jacob Jones’ turn to step up at safety. Jones has come in for some criticism here after previous games, but he was solid with seven tackles and came unblocked on a safety blitz to take down Rodrigues for a loss of 11.

Special teams: D

How many more games would ISU have won this season with competent special teams play? I don’t know, but after Saturday, I suspect the answer is “at least one.” Henderson’s muffed punt, which came after the freshman bobbled a couple earlier in the game, cost ISU three points when Davis kicked a field goal. Rango was back returning punts after that mishap. Kevin Ryan’s missed 47-yard field goal in the second quarter was partially blocked, but never felt like it had a chance. It would have been three yards further than Ryan’s career-long of 44, and 14 yards further than his season-long of 33. That’s another potential three points off the board. UC Davis’s special teams made ISU’s deficiencies in this area stand out even more. The Aggies’ All-American candidate punter, Daniel Whelan, averaged 52 yards on his five kicks. Ryan was at 43 yards on his four. That’s a 10-yard difference every time the teams punted, and in a close game, that adds up. The Bengals didn’t have a kick return because Whelan put three of his kicks in the end zone, kicked another one out of bounds and ISU fair caught the rest. Jaylin White had a 43-yard kick return for UCD.