Breaking down Cal's 49-31 win over Arizona: 'The Jaydn Ott Game'

This will be known as the Jaydn Ott game moving forward.

How else could it be remembered?

Ott, Cal's electrifying freshman running back, set the tone with a 73-yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage and never really slowed down, rushing for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns while averaging 14.4 yards per carry to power the Golden Bears to a 49-31 win over Arizona on Saturday at California Memorial Stadium.

Ott's final tally -- which also included a 72-yard touchdown run for the final score of the game -- marked the third-most rushing yards in a game in Cal history.

Cal (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12), which snapped a six-game losing streak in the series with Arizona that dated back to 2010, also matched its most points in a conference game under coach Justin Wilcox.

The Bears actually trailed 24-21 at halftime to Arizona (2-2, 0-1) before scoring three straight touchdowns -- a 3-yard pass from Jack Plummer to tight end Keleki Latu, an 18-yard Ott touchdown run and a 37-yard Plummer pass to Jeremiah Hunter that made it 42-24 early in the fourth quarter.

Ott, meanwhile, already has 463 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns and 2 receiving touchdowns through the first four games of his collegiate career.

And a day to remember Saturday.

RELATED: A closer look at Jaydn Ott's breakout game | Jack Plummer overcomes early struggles to throw for 3 TDs | WATCH: Justin Wilcox's postgame comments | WATCH: Video interviews with Cal players after the win over Arizona

First Quarter

14:17, Cal - Jaydn Ott 73-yard rush. 7-0, Bears

11:16, Arizona - Jonah Coleman 1-yard rush. 7-7

5:28, Arizona - Michael Wiley 1-yard rush. 14-7, Wildcats

Second Quarter

11:56, Cal - Jack Plummer 16-yard pass to J. Michael Sturdivant. 14-14

10:00, Arizona - Jayden de Laura 24-yard pass to Tetairoa McMillan. 21-14, Arizona

3:40, Cal - DeCarlos Brooks 3-yard rush. 21-21

0:40, Arizona - Tyler Loop 37-yard field goal is good. 24-21, Wildcats

Third Quarter

9:17, Cal - Jack Plummer 3-yard pass to Keleki Latu. 28-24, Bears

4:59, Cal - Jaydn Ott 18-yard rush. 35-24, Bears

Fourth Quarter

14:53, Cal - Jack Plummer 37-yard pass to Jeremiah Hunter. 42-24, Bears

12:36, Arizona - Jayden de Laura 14-yard pass to Jacob Cowing. 42-31, Bears

4:46, Cal - Jaydn Ott 72-yard rush. 49-31, Bears (FINAL)

It was Cal’s scoring drive to go up over Arizona for good in the third quarter followed by a three-and-out forced by the defense put the nail in the coffin.

QB Jack Plummer got his tight ends going, hitting Keleki Latu for 23 yards (while incurring penalized roughing-the-passer hit) and Elijah Mojarro for 20 yards before eventually going back to Latu for a 3-yard touchdown.

And then the Bears proceeded to create some comfortable separation.

Three straight touchdown drives overall, and a big interception by Daniel Scott with 5:51 to play.

From then on, the slide just kept going, with another 72-yard touchdown run from Ott and a massive interception from Isaiah Young in the end zone put lights out.

RB Jaydn Ott -- obviously

I am officially out of adjectives for this young man. Sensational, transcendent, otherworldly.

Of course, it's Ott. The freshman superstar rushed for 164 yards in the first half and 274 in the game as a whole, which ranks third all-time at Cal. For another week, Ott powered the Bears to where they needed to be. Tack on three touchdowns and the expectations just keep growing for his already incredible freshman year.

Enjoy him, Cal fans. There aren’t many players like him around.

S Craig Woodson

What didn’t he do today? The safety was flying around for the Bears today, leading the squad with 7 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. Whenever Cal needed to get a stop or get off the field, it seemed like you could count on No. 2 putting his nose on the ball carrier. Orin Patu’s sack-fumble gets an honorable mention and the duo of Scott and Young deserves some praise as well, as their interceptions sealed the game for Cal towards the end.

Ott’s 73-yard touchdown run to open the game is hard to top, despite a number of nice plays from the Bears on Saturday.

Pin-and-pull, one of Cal’s favorite run plays, was executed to perfection in this instance. Tight ends Jermaine Terry and Mojarro pin down the outside of the defense while Sioape Vatikani and Brian Driscoll pull around and clean up any stragglers. From then on out, it’s all Ott. He turns on that fifth-gear speed and says "see ya later" to a couple of Arizona defensive backs on his way to a score.

… Offense?

Cal put up 49 points, the most during Bill Musgrave’s tenure at Cal and the most since 2018 in a 49-7 win over Oregon State. Not only did they put up points, the Bears totaled 599 total yards of offense (245 passing and 354 rushing) in what feels like a turned corner on that side of the ball. This might not be a sustainable pace, but seeing that Cal has this gear versus a Power 5 opponent has to create a sense of optimism going forward.

For once, the offense carried the defense on what was a generally lackluster day for the Bears on that side of the ball (early, at least).

It’s hard to get past the feeling of excitement with this one, but there is still a lot of room to improve in playing complementary football. The two units didn’t work quite in sync today, but boy oh boy will scoring 49 points make that feel a little better.

Cal is 3-1 to open up the season. Bowl eligibility is just three wins away and the Bears just maybe are finding a groove on offense. They’ll need to string together a couple more top-end performances before we crown this team as the king of offensive football, but it’s certainly a fantastic stepping-stone before entering into the tougher stretch of the schedule.

Stats

Passing

Jack Plummer: 18 of 28, 245 yards, 3TD

Rushing

Jaydn Ott: 19 carries, 274 yards, 3TD

DeCarlos Brooks: 10 carries, 32 yards

Damien Moore: 5 carries, 31 yards

Ashton Hayes: 1 carry, 14 yards

Receiving

Jeremiah Hunter: 5 catches, 82 yards, 1TD

J. Michael Sturdivant: 3 catches, 60 yards, 1TD

Elijah Mojarro: 3 catches, 45 yards

Monroe Young, 3 catches, 22 yards

Keleki Latu: 2 catches, 26 yards, 1TD

Jaydn Ott: 2 catches, 10 yards