Game Recap: Ground attack, defense carries Cal in 3-point win over ASU

Hoping to get back into a good scoring rhythm and get its feet back under it after a tough first Pac-12 loss against Washington, Cal once again struggled Saturday as it faced ASU. A considerably more feasible team that the Bears should have been able to put up more points against ended only in a 24-21 victory. But a win is a win, and that is certainly what the Bears needed.

The real star of the show for Cal on Saturday was its defense.

This is something that keeps coming up again and again, but — even against this ASU team — defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon’s unit showed up and showed out. Defensive star redshirt sophomore Kaleb Elarms-Orr had a stellar outing, tallying 15 total tackles, with 12 of those coming in just the first half.

“He’s a very talented athlete, first of all — fast, strong, explosive … A year ago, Kaleb was a ways from playing … he invested in the weight room, he spends extra time upstairs with coaches,” said Cal head coach Justin Wilcox in the post game press conference. “We (have) got really high expectations for him because his ceiling is very high.”

In total, the Bears tallied a staggering 85 total tackles, which was eight higher than the Sun Devils. On a number of occasions, the defense prevented the Sun Devils’ offense from being able to convert on later downs, keeping it a close — but winnable — game. ASU converted just five of its 20 attempts on third and fourth down.

“We stopped them on fourth down — we got some stops. We (have) got to, in turn, put the ball in the end zone — that’s momentum. Capitalize on those moments,” Wilcox said.

While the blue and gold defense was the Bears’ knight in shining armor, the offense struggled to get things going. Sam Jackson V earned the starting job at quarterback this week, after another mid-season QB battle with NC State transfer Ben Finley, who started against Washington.

Jackson showed off his abilities with several rushing attempts and helped provide rhythm to this offense, but still struggled with his throws, something that prevented him from starting in games earlier this season. Jackson finished out the win with a 41% completion rate.

“Today the decision making wasn’t bad … Just slowing the game down, I was just playing too fast,” Jackson said. “(I) got excited and missed a lot of throws.”

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Compared to previous outings, Jackson threw considerably more. But the offense struggled to move the ball at times, as the Sun Devils led the Bears in possession time and total yards through the third quarter.

The Bears received an energy boost after a 21-yard pass from Jackson was caught by Jeremiah Hunter in the end zone for Cal’s second touchdown of the day, putting Cal up by 10 points halfway through the third quarter. The Sun Devils almost scored a touchdown of their own just four minutes later, but a timeout which allowed more time for the review showed an illegal substitution, forcing Arizona State to settle for a field goal.

The most exciting part of the game came in the last 12 minutes of the fourth quarter — a career-first interception for Matthew Littlejohn followed by an Jaydn Ott 2-yard rushing touchdown. ASU quickly responded with a touchdown of its own, making it a 3-point game with just under 10 minutes left on the clock.

The Bears were unable to capitalize on a fourth-and-short on the 1-yard line, giving the Sun Devils a chance to win the game on their last drive. But a quality defensive showing by the Bears led to another turnover on downs — and Cal was in possession of the ball once again, with just a minute left.

The silver lining of this performance for the Cal offense was, perhaps unsurprisingly, once again Ott. The sophomore rushed for 167 yards over the course of the game, and was the only other player to record any receptions besides Hunter in the first half, putting him at 176 all-purpose yards on the day.

Despite Ott’s performance, he wasn’t happy with the way the Bears played Saturday.

“I’m actually kind of upset. There’s a lot we need to work on as an offense, we need to come out with a fire next week. There’s a lot to improve on,” Ott said.

A place of concern for the Bears was their wide receivers; throughout most of the game, Hunter was the only receiver to catch a ball, with the other players to catch a ball being Ifanse and Ott as well as tight end Jack Endries.

Eventually, wide receiver Brian Hightower broke that streak as he caught one pass for 7 yards.

Getting off to a slow offensive start — for both teams — the first score of the day came with only 6 minutes left in the first quarter. The first three drives, two for the Sun Devils and one for the Bears, ended in punts. Cal was up just by 3 points at the halfway mark, 10-7, after a rushing touchdown by Isaiah Ifanse — his fifth touchdown on the ground this season — and a 2-yard rushing touchdown for ASU’s Cam Skattebo, with a Mateen Bhaghani 37-yard field goal in the second quarter to seal the deal for Cal in the first half.

As Cal prepares for a homestand, facing Oregon State for its homecoming game next week, the Bears need to regroup on the offensive side of the ball. Once again struggling to get momentum — but with a slight spark that was certainly absent in the Bears’ first half against Idaho — Cal should certainly aim to prepare for what will be a challenging matchup against the 4-1 Beavers.

Passing

Sam Jackson V – 12/29, 130 yards, 1 TD

Rushing

Jaydn Ott – 29 carries, 165 yards, 1 TD

Isaiah Ifanse – 8 carries, 26 yards, 1 TD

Receiving

Jeremiah Hunter – 6 catches, 89 yards, 1 TD

Jack Endries – 1 catch, 20 yards

Defense

Kaleb Elarms-Orr – 15 tackles (4 solo)

Jackson Sirmon – 13 tackles (6 solo), 1 tackle for loss

Nohl Williams – 7 tackles (3 solo), 1/2 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakup

Patrick McMorris – 6 tackles (3 solo), 2 pass breakups

Myles Jernigan – 4 tackles (1 solo), 1 tackle for loss, 1 forced fumble