Tag: Jadyn Ott

Bears Wake Up: Cal comes alive after halftime in 31-13 season-opening win over UC Davis

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–When the prickly UC Davis Aggies made Division I-quality plays on Saturday afternoon, the Cal Bears were made to wince. When the Aggies reverted to their FBS status, the Bears proved resilient and pounced.

Not exactly what Coach Justin Wilcox wanted, but that initial pattern gave way to a dominant second half, and Cal cruised 31-13 over UC Davis in the season opener for both teams.

Wilcox never pretends to be satisfied, but after the totality of the 60 minutes in the last day of August opener, he wasn’t mad.

“It’s really a tale of two halves,” he said. “To be up a point at half, we were fortunate.”

Coach Tim Plough, a prized offensive assistant for Wilcox before assuming the head job at Davis, had his team prepared. They ran a whopping 52 offensive plays before halftime (but passed for only 221 yards in total) and made the atmosphere inside Memorial Stadium uneasy. Quarterback Miles Hastings simply took what Cal offered underneath, and the Bears were limited to 9:06 of possession time before the break.

“We never had any rhythm,” Wilcox said. “One of the keys for us is getting that first first down.”

Along with the lengthy possessions that unnerved Cal’s defense, Aggie Kavir Bains put a textbook lick on ball carrier Kadarius Calloway. That left the ball bouncing free inside Cal’s 5 yard-line, and Porter Connors skipped into the end zone with the scoop to trim Cal’s lead to 7-6.

But it was Nohl Williams’ momentum-turning, 80-yard kickoff that put Cal up 14-13 at half and put the home team in position to restore order.

Cal’s offensive line didn’t offer Fernando Mendoza enough time in the first, nor did they free leading rusher Jadyn Ott. The pre-season All-ACC runner had his afternoon end in the second quarter when he suffered an apparent ankle injury. But the Bears’ blocking was cohesive in a second half in which the Bears fashioned lengthy drives and relied on Jaivian Thomas and Byron Cardwell to run and break tackles as they outscored the visitors, 17-0.

“We’re the better team. We’re a well-oiled offense. We’re going to go and get this done,” Mendoza said in describing the Bears’ attitude to start the second half. “We’re going to go and do tempo, and we’re going to score. That’s what our offense thrives off of.”

The Bears’ aspirations to be a surprise, bowl-eligible team in their first season in the travel-happy Power 4 conference will demand them to survive visits to Florida State, SMU and Pittsburgh while hosting Miami, North Carolina State and Syracuse. Losing to California system school UC Davis for the first time in 12 meetings would not have been wise, and ultimately, the Bears were smarter than that.

In their premiere non-conference matchup with Auburn next Saturday, Cal gets its first shot at grabbing national attention in a rematch that narrowly went to the Tigers last season in Berkeley. This time, the heat, the travel, and Auburn’s speed and depth will make for a tougher test.

Ott’s availability will be monitored throughout the week after the speedy back became only the eighth Cal runner to reach 22 rushing touchdowns in his career. Ott’s 1-yard run midway through the first quarter was the initial score of the season and gave Cal an early 7-0 lead.

Ryan Coe, in his first game as a Cal Bear, kicked a 25-yard field goal and converted three extra points. Wilcox singled out his new kicker as “the kicker,” likely alluding to the Bears’ issues with the kicking game last season that jeopardized a couple of games.

Saturday’s game at Auburn starts at 2:30pm locally, and it precedes a home game against San Diego State and their initial ACC road trip to Tallahassee to face Florida State.

UCLA, Thompson-Robinson Run Cal Ragged: Bears lose to the Bruins, 35-28 in the season finale

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA– Turnovers, and a porous run defense spelled doom in Cal’s season finale against UCLA.

And in there, engaged to the end, trying to navigate the hosts through a portal to overcome a late deficit was Joe Starkey, on his final call as the voice of Golden Bears football.

All for naught, and on this rare Friday afternoon of football, not a bonanza.

The Bears embraced their opportunity to soften a rough season with consecutive wins at its conclusion but couldn’t seal the deal. Cal led 21-10 before halftime and regained a 28-27 lead with 11:16 remaining. But UCLA’s 352 yards rushing on a relentless 64 attempts simply wore Cal down.

“It was a heartbreaking loss. We had plenty of opportunities,” coach Justin Wilcox said.

After both aforementioned leads, UCLA simply looked to senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson along with their run game to get back into the game and got quick results.

With just 58 seconds to work with before halftime, Thompson-Robinson led the Bruins on a five-play touchdown drive to get within 21-17. The fifth-year senior handled the final 19 yards on an aborted pass play that ended with him motoring to the end zone.

Trailing by one in the fourth quarter, the Bruins needed ten plays to take the lead for good, with half of the plays either a Thompson-Robinson run or completed pass. The ensuing two-point conversion–a Thompson-Robinson pass to Jake Bobo–gave the Bruins a 35-28 lead with 7:53 remaining.

“We were a little frustrated, a little teed off. We’re a lot better football team than that,” Thompson-Robinson said of the two deficits the visitors faced. “But again, the resiliency and ability to fix those things. We’ve got a bunch of smart football players out on that field.”

The Bears saw success throwing on the Bruins along the boundaries to their productive receivers, Jeremiah Hunter and J. Michael Sturdivant. Hunter had a big afternoon with eight catches, 153 yards, and two scores. Conversely, Cal couldn’t sustain its success passing with a subpar 3 of 10 on third down conversions.

“We knew it was a game of third downs, then taking some shots,” Wilcox said in commending his interim play calling team that directed the offense to a 361-yard output.

The Bruins dwarfed that with their 541-yard total and a significant edge in time of possession. If nothing else, that differential paved the way for a very, tired final seven minutes for the Bears in which they failed to threaten UCLA’s lead. When Cal regained possession with two minutes left, they ran just four plays and saw freshman Jaydn Ott fumble after gaining enough yardage for a first down.

The Bruins recovered and ran out the clock, forcing the Bears to exhaust their remaining two timeouts.

Cal finished 4-8 with just two Pac-12 victories in nine opportunities. That means changes are inevitable beyond those made during the season as Wilcox tried everything to pump up his lackluster offense without success.

“You’ve got to look at the positives,” senior safety Daniel Scott said. “We played a lot of close games. It’s just the small details that cost us some games.”

Jack Plummer’s decision to return or not will likely be the first of numerous ones that will hopefully result in the program getting back on track. If Plummer does return, he’ll be challenged by sophomore quarterback Kai Millner.

Starkey concluded a stellar, 48-year run as the radio voice of Cal football that began in 1975. For years, Starkey assumed the arduous task of broadcasting Cal and 49ers football each weekend, which finally took its toll. Still, the versatile broadcaster kept both teams going, as he was at the mike for all five 49ers’ Super Bowl victories.

“Very emotional. I’ve been there for a very long time,” Starkey, 81, said after leaving the microphone for the last time. “We’ve gone to some wonderful places. I’ve done college games, for God’s sake, for Cal in Tokyo and Australia. What a way to spend a life.”

Ott’s 3 TD’s, decisive third quarter lead Cal past Arizona, 49-31 in the Pac-12 opener

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By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–The 624 yards of offense amassed by Arizona and Cal before halftime on Saturday turned out to be an appetizer.

Jadyn Ott, with his 274 yards rushing and three touchdowns, was the fully satisfying buffet spread across the breadth of the afternoon in the Bears’ 49-31 homecoming win in their Pac-12 opener.

Ott, the freshman who didn’t impact Cal’s narrow loss to Notre Dame, announced himself with a 73-yard score on Cal’s second offensive play. In the third quarter, he was powerful and elusive on an 18-yard run and score. Then in the fourth quarter with Cal looking to finish off the Wildcats, Ott again turned on the speed in a 72-yard touchdown jaunt.

Ott’s 274-yards rushing stands as the most by an FBS player this season, and the third most in Cal history, trailing Jahvid Best (311 yards, 2009) and Jerry Drew (283, 1954).

“We’ve been talking about it for a long time. You’ve seen it in flashes. We saw it a bunch today. He’s a dynamic guy and has the ability to take it to the house from a lot of spots,” coach Justin Wilcox said.

“Every time I touch the ball, I feel like I’m going to score,” Ott said. “That’s my mentality.”

Despite Ott’s breakaway run early, Cal was on its collective heels at the half, trailing 24-21 and unable to stop UA’s Jayden de Laura, who would finish with 401 yards passing.

Wilcox’s trademark halftime adjustments normally consist of cleaning up defensive assignments. But in a game that belonged to playmakers on both sides, Cal leaned heavily on its running game and a rotating cast of offensive linemen as much as benefitting from a turnover in a third quarter that turned the game around.

After forcing a punt on Arizona’s initial drive of the third quarter, Cal regained the lead with an eight-play 87-yard drive capped off by Keleki Latu’s 3-yard touchdown catch on fourth-and-one. Quarterback Jack Plummer leaned on his tight ends on the drive with Latu’s two catches and two big gainers from Elijah Mojarro.

An Arizona three-and-out was followed by Cal’s five-play drive that put them up 35-24. Ott finished the drive with a run that saw him slowed by three Wildcat defenders before breaking free to score from 18 yards out.

With the third quarter drawing to a close, linebacker Orin Patu broke free and dislodged the football from a scrambling de Laura, and Miles Jernigan pounced on it to set up Cal at their 32-yard line.

Six plays later, Plummer connected with Jeremiah Hunter for a 37-yard pass and score and Cal had an insurmountable 42-24 lead with 14:53 remaining.

“We couldn’t stop the run and when you can’t stop the run, you run into the issues of you have to try to press,” coach Jedd Fisch said. “I think we started to press there at the end and started turning the ball over in the fourth quarter. That’s what cost us.”

Led by Ott, Cal totaled 354 yards on the ground, the biggest chunk of their 599 yards in total offense. That along with a 3-0 advantage in turnovers allowed the Bears to turn the tide, an overcome Arizona’s 536 yards in offense.

“In the first half, we didn’t tackle well, we didn’t rush, we didn’t cover anybody. It was bad,” Wilcox said.

Numerous players saw their first significant time on the field as Cal Bears, and they made the most of it. Sioape Vitikani, a 335-pound freshman came up with seal block that sprung Ott for his first touchdown run. T.J. Sessions, a Montana State transfer helped break Ott free on his third quarter score.

For Arizona, freshman Tetairoa McMillan came up with an outstanding catch in the end zone despite Cal’s Isaiah Young being in position to make a play. Sophomore Dorian Singer came up with a one-handed catch along the sideline in what was otherwise a rough, fourth quarter for Arizona.

The Bears travel to Pullman, WA next Saturday to face Washington State. The Cougars took a 27-15 lead into the fourth quarter over Oregon on Saturday only to see the No.15 Ducks rally to win 44-41, and saddle the Cougars with their first loss after a 3-0 start.