Cal, one of the two teams out of the PAC-12 along with Stanford who has accepted an invitation to join the ACC, opened up their last season in the Conference of Champions on the road in Denton at DATCU stadium against a North Texas team that has won 24 conference championships leading to 12 bowl appearances. And like every other PAC-12 team in Week-1 they won fairly easily after holding the Mean Green to a three-and-out to start the game and then scoring three plays later to go up 7-0 and never relinquishing the lead the rest of the way, up 14-7 after the 1st Qtr, 33-21 at the break, 48-21 after three and recording a 58-21 win—holding North Texas scoreless in the second half.
A portal transfer from TCU, QB Sam Jackson V started for the Golden Bears and on their very first possession of the game led Cal 65 yards down the field in three plays which included a 41 yard run by RB Jaydn Ott and a 23 yard TD pass to Jeremiah Hunter with just over two minutes gone in the first quarter. The Mean Green tied the score on their next possession, a five play 75 yard drive in under two minutes that featured a 9 yard, 58 yard, and 3 yard TD pass from QB Stone Earle to WR Ja’Mori Maclin. After each being held to a three-and-out on their next possessions, the Mean Green threw up an interception at their own 35 yard line leading to four straight Jaydn Ott runs—the last a 4 yard dash into the end zone to put Cal up 14-7 with just a minute to play in the 1st Qtr. North Texas came back on their next possession and scored early in the 2nd Qtr on another TD from Earle to Maclin to tie it up at fourteen where it stayed until half-way through the 2nd Qtr when Cal’s backup QB Ben Finley—in for an injured Sam Jackson V—led Cal on a 7 play 44 yard drive ending in a 44 yard run into the end zone by RB Isaiah Ifanse to put the Golden Bears back on top 21-14. After holding North Texas to another three-and-out Cal would go up by another TD on a two play 75 yard drive featuring consecutive runs of 9 and 66 yards by RB Jaydn Ott for his third TD of game and a lead of 27-14 after a missed extra point. Each team would score another TD a piece before the half with the Mean Green getting an assist through a Cal fumble at their own 36 yard line but would never score again the rest of the way as North Texas threw up an interception and the Cal defense forced three three-and-outs after the break.
Cal dominated the line of scrimmage, completely eliminating the North Texas run game in which they were only able to gain 41 yards on 27 attempts. They were better in the air with QB Stone Earle connecting on a little more than 60% of his throws for three TD’s but the Golden Bear pass rush forced 2 interceptions as well, both leading to TD’s. Cal back-up QB Ben Finley connected on 70% of his throws for 289 yards, 1 TD, and one pick to go along with Sam Jackson V’s early TD before getting injured. All toll the Bears connected in the air on 27-of-39 for 322 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 interception. But it was their highly productive run game that should put upcoming teams on notice as they rushed 56 times for 347 yards and 6 TD’s—3 of those by Isaiah Ifanse and 2 by Jaydn Ott who rushed 20 times for 178 yards while averaging almost 9 yards per carry! Cal significantly outpaced the Mean Green in the box score while leading in 1st Downs, 29-10; Passing Yards, 322-184; Rushing Yards, 347-41; as well as winning the time-of-possession battle by a whopping eighteen minutes. The Bears head back home where they’ll face SEC’s Auburn this coming Saturday—a team that also rushed for 6 TD’s in their Week-1 win against the Massachusetts Minutemen.