When in doubt just give the ball to one of the top players in the country.
Jaydn Ott has a chance to become Cal's top rusher by the end of the season, and he got off to a nice start Saturday when the Bears opened up against UC Davis. It took some time for the Bears to find their footing, but eventually Ott's two rushing scores set the tone for a 31-13 victory at California Memorial Stadium.
The Bears rotated quarterbacks and were a bit shorthanded at other positions, but they possess a great equalizer in their junior running back. Ott didn't take long to get in the end zone as he came up with the first score of the game on a 1-yard rush in the first quarter.
His 6-yard rush with 7:18 to play in the third quarter would give Cal the cushion it needed to eventually roll to a win over its pesky FCS opponent.
Ott was later dinged up on a play and did not return, however. Cal head coach Justin Wilcox did not immediately have an injury update after the game.
He finished his day with 49 yards rushing on 14 carries.
The spark for the Bears came late in the second quarter after the Aggies took a 13-7 lead.
Cornerback Nohl Williams scored the third touchdown of his two-year career at Cal with an 80-yard kickoff return to give the Bears a 14-13 lead with 4:31 to play in the first half.
"It's awesome scoring touchdowns, just being able to contribute to the team W," Williams said. "Hopefully I can keep it up."
Cal never looked back after that moment en route to its season-opening victory.
"Well, there's a lot of lessons to learn from that game," Wilcox said. "The difference between bad football and good football is this much. The first half, I think we had good effort, but boy, our execution was lacking. We really were not in any type of rhythm as a team.
"I'm really proud of the way the guys persevered through that. It didn't feel great. I mean, we all noticed that, and even in the in the locker room. Once you get out there and you trust your training, whether it's playing leverage or tackling. Or, offensively, our eyes are in the right places, delivering the ball, blocking people. Then all sudden, things start going your way. And we did a much better job. I mean, it's really a tale two halves."
The Bears had some issues keeping the pocket clean leading to a sluggish start for the offense overall. However, eventually the offense settled down despite rotating the quarterbacks.
Fernando Mendoza spent the most time at the position after earning the start Saturday. He led multiple touchdown drives including hitting Nyziah Hunter early in the fourth quarter to put the Bears up 31-13 with 14:15 to play.
Mendoza finished his day with 158 yards on 15-for-22 passing and the one touchdown pass.
North Texas transfer Chandler Rogers made his Cal debut with 11:30 to play in the second quarter as he came in for a time in place of Mendoza at quarterback. He had a mixed bag of results working behind a shaky offensive line and finished his day with just 21 yards passing with 3 completions on 6 attempts.
Wilcox said after the game that the coaching staff will evaluate the film as it works to come up with a plan at the position for Week 2.
The Cal defense looked similar to what it did in the 2023 season. Peter Sirmon's group forced three interceptions (Cade Uluave, Marcus Harris, Nohl Williams) but also allowed the UC Davis offense to control the contest especially early.
The Aggies hit on seven plays of at least 15 yards and outgained the Bears, 304-281.
"First-game jitters," sophomore linebacker Cade Uluave said about the play of the defense on Saturday. "We kind of had a slow start, but after that we came into the locker room and talked as a defense saying, 'First game jitters are out. We're ready to go, we need to lock in.'
"I feel like as the game went on, we definitely locked in. Were able to get some stops and prevent the offense from scoring for sure."
Cal will be back in action next Saturday when it travels to Auburn for a 12:30 p.m. PT meeting with the Tigers.
