Saturday was Jack Plummer’s (no relation to Jake the Snake) debut as QB for the Cal Bears. The 6’ 5” Senior transfer from Purdue is a big guy with a strong arm and more mobile and elusive than one might think. In the end he had a good day even though the first quarter consisted of nothing more than three punts, two on three-and-outs, and an interception while UC Davis took an early 7-0 lead. Like Cal Head Coach Justin Wilcox said after the game; “Getting out there on the field the first time, I’m sure there was a little bit of nerves going on. A good thing was, as we talked about on the sideline after the first quarter was over, it was like, Guys, it probably couldn’t have gone too much worse. … We got that out of us and then settled down and moved the ball down the field.” And down the field they went in the 2nd Qtr putting up 2 TD’s courtesy of passes by Plummer and a field goal to take a 17-7 lead at the half.
Cal pushed the lead out further with an interception for TD at the start of the 2nd half but Davis was able to close the gap somewhat on a 60 yard run on their next possession, now down 24-13 after a missed extra point. Then began what we are used to seeing from Cal lately, very long productive drives that eat up the clock and add to the lead—very much what Stanford used to live on. 15 plays, 59 yards, and just shy of seven minutes later, the Bears added three more on a Dario Longhetto 41 yard field goal to go up 27-13. Cal intercepted Davis on their next drive but neither team was able to make any headway on their next two possessions and as a result there was no more scoring until Cal scored again on another Jack Plummer 14 yard TD passs to Mavin Anderson to go up 34-13. UC Davis missed a field goal on their next drive leaving Cal to run out the clock with less than three minutes to go.
QB Jack Plummer connected on 23-of-35 for 268 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 interception while Freshman RB Jaydn Ott, in his very first college game, carried the load on the ground for the Bears rushing 17 times for 104 of their 147 yard total while also on the receiving end of two Plummer passes for 26 yards and one of those three TD’s. There was only two yards difference between the teams in rushing and just 26 yards in passing with Davis Sophomore QB Miles Hastings connecting on 32-of-50 for 242 yards, 1 TD, and 2 picks while Senior RB Ulonzo Gilliam Jr. picked up a TD and 115 of the 145 yard rushing total for UC Davis. There was a mere two seconds in time-of-possession difference with Cal leading in first downs 24-to-19 and total yards 415-to-387. Regarding the AP Takeaway for the Cal Bears, they put it this way: “The Bears figured to have some growing pains offensively after losing their leading passer, rusher and receiver from last season. Cal had 3 yards, three punts and one interception on its first four drives before Plummer found his groove.” Up next, Cal hosts UNLV at home this next Saturday.