Cal Head Coach Justin Wilcox made some much needed adjustments with the defense at half-time and gave up just seven points to the Wildcats the rest of the way after going into the break down 24-21. Arizona had absolutely no answer for the Cal ground game with Freshman RB Jayden Ott rushing 19 times for 274 yards (14+ yards per carry) and 3 TD’s while collectively the Bears rushed 38 times for 354 yards and 4 TD’s total. Cal was almost as productive in the air with Senior QB Jack Plummer connecting on 18-of-28 for 245 yards and 3 more TD’s without an interception. Arizona’s Sophomore QB Jayden de Laura connected on 60% of his throws for 401 yards, 2 TD’s, and 2 interceptions—with one leading to a Cal TD late in the 4th Qtr. The Wildcats rushed 26 times for 135 yards and a TD a piece by Junior RB Michael Wiley and Freshman RB Jonah Coleman.
Cal scored first in this one on a Jayden Ott 73 yard TD run but Arizona came right back with back-to-back TD’s after forcing Cal to punt on their second possession and was ahead 14-7 at the end of the 1st Qtr. With Cal forcing Arizona into three punts, one fumble, and two interceptions in the 2nd half—with two of those turnovers leading to Bear TD’s—it left the Wildcats little time to score. In the meantime the Bears scored two TD’s in each the 3rd and 4th Qtr to win it 49-31. They’ll hit the road to the Palouse this coming weekend to take on Washington State in Pullman.
Ott, as a Freshman, now holds the record for the third most rushing yards in a game in school history. When talking about his midset after the game he said; “Everytime I touch the ball I feel like I’m going to score.” Regarding defensive adjustments at the break Cal Head Coach Justin Wilcox mentioned that; “In the first half, we didn’t tackle well, we didn’t rush, we didn’t cover anybody. It was bad. Got some big stops in the third.” Jedd Fisch, in his first full year as Head Coach at Arizona said this regarding their play; “Overall, we just need to do a better job coaching, better job playing, better job finishing – finishing tackles, finishing blocks, finishing runs, finishing catches. [You] can’t win a game when you turn it over three times and take it away zero. And you can’t win a game where in the fourth quarter [you have] opportunities that [you don’t] seize … Not good enough today.” Commenting that the coaching staff plans to focus on fundamentals before their home opener against Colorado this next Saturday he said this; “It’s gonna come down to tackling. It’s going to come down to shedding (blocks). It’s going to come down to fundamentals. How good can we be in fundamentals? Can we improve our fundamentals (to become) a better run defense? We recognize the importance of that as we move forward against our future opponents.”