The good and the bad: ISU at Utah State — Deciphering the pluses and minuses from the Bengals’ 20-point loss to the Aggies in Logan

The Idaho State Bengals have the worst scoring defense in the Big Sky Conference and are averaging a paltry 17 points per game on offense.

They’re 0-2 and their road losing streak is up to 46 games after dropping a 40-20 decision at Utah State on Saturday. The Bengals’ special teams have largely been a mess in two games allowing two punt returns and a kickoff return for touchdowns.

But you know who else wasn’t satisfied with the first two weeks of the season? Utah and Utah State.

Even though they both won by at least 20 points, neither the Utes nor Aggies were happy with how they played against Idaho State. Utah was upset with how the Bengals were able to run the football and Utah State didn’t create any kind of separation from ISU until late in the second quarter.

There was even a smattering of boos raining down from the Aggie faithful in the first half.

ISU was a cause of those boos and that says something about how the Bengals were playing. With that, let’s break down the pluses and minuses from Idaho State’s game with Utah State.

Plus: The defense. Idaho State forced the Aggies to punt eight times and while Utah State posted five touchdowns, two of them had nothing to do with ISU’s defense.

In fact, only once did Utah State take possession of the football and drive the full length of the field against ISU, and that was late in the fourth quarter. The other two scoring drives were 52 and 17 yards long, respectively, products of excellent field position via a good USU punt return and an interception of Idaho State quarterback Justin Arias early in the third quarter.

Utah State finished the game with 427 total yards of offense, 311 of those on the ground. Idaho State’s much-maligned defense hasn’t proven it’s good enough to stop teams in the Big Sky. Remember, Utah racked up 589 total yards of offense in the opening game of the season.

But limiting Utah State to three offensive touchdowns and quarterback Chuckie Keeton to 116 yards in the air on 30 passing attempts is a good sign.

Minus: Idaho State’s field position. For the second straight game, Idaho State was consistently buried in its own end of the field, and opponents started drives in ISU territory or near the 50-yard line.

Most of the time the Bengal offense strolls onto the field with 80 or 90 yards of green turf separating them from the end zone. Meanwhile, ISU’s defense has had far less green real estate behind them to protect.

Utah State began four drives in Idaho State territory, and the Bengals were pushed back inside their own 16-yard line eight times.

Minus: Idaho State’s backup quarterback play. It’s not that ISU’s backup quarterbacks have played poorly. They haven’t played at all.

Arias was on the field for nearly the entire game at Utah and he took all the snaps Saturday. Arias has thrown 87 passes for 465 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions in two games, and he’s the only quarterback on the Bengal roster to attempt a pass.

Plus/Minus: Idaho State’s wide receiver play. Utah State’s secondary was a physical bunch and the Bengal wideouts struggled to create any separation, particularly in the first half. But as the game wore on, the sophomore-laden group did a better job of shaking loose.

Sophomore BYU transfer Madison Mangum caught a game-high six passes and sophomore KW Williams topped the 100-yard mark. Both Williams and Broc Malcom hauled in long touchdowns, and sophomore tight end Josh Cook (six catches for 63 yards in two games) is a great security blanket for Arias over the middle.

Those are some of the positives.

The negatives: After the Utah State game, ISU head coach Mike Kramer said all three of Arias’ interceptions were the wide receivers’ faults, and Malcom had several drops, one of which landed right in the lap of Utah State cornerback Jalen Davis. Davis returned the interception 44 yards for an easy touchdown.

Plus: The most difficult two-game stretch of Idaho State’s season is over. ISU seems relatively healthy, the bank account is considerably larger after two money games and the Bengals play six of their final 10 games in Holt Arena.

Bengals in  Big Sky rankings   
— Junior running back Xavier Finney is the Big Sky’s leading rusher with 221 yards. Finney is the only running back in the top 10 to not score a touchdown.

— At 232.5 yards, senior Justin Arias is third in the Big Sky in passing yards per game.

— Sophomore wide receiver KW Williams is sixth in the Big Sky averaging 76 yards a game.

— Freshman Mario Jenkins is the fourth-leading tackler in the Big Sky with 24 total takedowns.

Big Sky players of the week

Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams is the Big Sky’s Offensive Player of the Week and Northern Colorado cornerback Courtney Hall is the Defensive Player of the Week. North Dakota’s Spencer Cummings is the Special Teams Player of the Week.

Adams threw for a career-high 475 yards and seven touchdown passes in No. 2 Eastern Washington’s 59-52 loss to Washington of the Pac-12.

Hall, a 5-foot-8, 168-pound recorded four tackles and intercepted two passes in Northern Colorado’s 13-12 loss to UNLV of the Mountain West Conference.

Cummings blocked two second-half field goal attempts by Robert Morris to help preserve a 16-13 victory over the Colonials on Saturday.