Cal started slow, really slow.

Then things sped up. A lot. The Bears went down a touchdown against UC Davis before ripping off 24 unanswered points en route to what ended up being a relatively painless 34-13 win, at least in the score column.

Early inefficiencies and going blow for blow with a (good) FCS team is not a good recipe for long-term success in the Pac-12, but getting off to a 1-0 start is never something to complain about.

Here’s how the Bears got to the job done Saturday.

First Quarter

3:09, UC Davis - 4-yard pass from Miles Hastings to Chaz Davis. 7-0, Aggies

Second Quarter

8:54, Cal - 3-yard pass from Jack Plummer to Jeremiah Hunter. 7-7, all

2:25, Cal - 8-yard pass from Jack Plummer to Jaydn Ott. 14-7, Cal

0:00, Cal - Dario Longhetto 32-yard field goal. 17-7, Cal

Third Quarter

14:20, Cal - Craig Woodson 39-yard INT return TD. 24-7, Cal

14:04, UC Davis - Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr. 60-yard rush. PAT is no good. 24-13, Cal

7:02, Cal - Dario Longhetto 40-yard field goal. 17-13, Cal

Fourth Quarter

7:19, Cal - Mavin Anderson 14-yard reception from Jack Plummer. 34-13, Cal

When Cal went to Jaydn Ott after several relatively unsuccessful runs by Damien Moore, the game changed completely. Ott quickly turned 3 yards into 7 or more, and he looked more explosive than his peers from the get-go. Once he came in, the whole offense opened up more and the Bears never looked back.

Today, two guys get the honors.

Jack Plummer and Jaydn Ott both left their marks on this game in their first action as Golden Bears. Plummer went 23 of 35 (65%) with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception that was barely his fault anyway. Ott toted the rock 17 times to the tune of 104 yards and tacked on 2 catches for 26 yards and a score as well. For two players who have literally never played a game in this stadium or with these teammates, that’s about as good of a start as you can hope for. Optimism!

Hello there, Jackson Sirmon.

In his first game for the Blue and Gold, the senior linebacker recorded a pass breakup along with a team high 8 tackles (6 solo). Not a bad start for the man in the middle. Runner up: Oluwafemi Oladejo, who recorded 6 solo stops and was around the ball on every play, but was unable to finish a few tackles.

After missing the entire 2021 season with injury (and missing an opportunity to get an interception earlier in the afternoon), Craig Woodson came in and made the play of the game in his first game back. The year of work to get back clearly paid off, as he jumped a curl route and took it back 39 yards to the house en route to the signature score of the day.

The Bears did exactly what they needed to to win. They held the Aggies under their desired 39 rush attempts per game and played mostly mistake-free football on both sides of the ball. A few issues with the offensive line need to be patched up going forward and some consistency tackling needs to be addressed on the defensive side, but not committing stupid penalties and bad mistakes.

In addition to this, Cal also actually spread the ball around quite a bit, hitting 11 different receivers today. Being able to be that multiple, with a quarterback who looked that good in game one is a huge, huge improvement over last year. Plummer was better than advertised today, but even he says he has some room to improve.

They also won this game because they were straight up just more talented than Davis. That matters. Justin Wilcox mentioned that this team needs to make small improvements in order to continue to win games where the skill gap and score margin get a little bit tighter. Today was good, but to keep winning Cal will need to be better.

Well, it means that the Bears avoided disaster and lived to fight another day. The biggest bright spot here is that Cal managed to handle their early struggles and overcome adversity on the way to a dominant win. Forget that it’s to an FCS school, UC Davis is hardly run-of-the-mill. That’s a positive change for the Bears. Not a perfect game by any stretch, but it shows that Cal is making a few strides at changing the way they play football. All the players and coaches expressed as much in their press conferences -- happy with a win but left unsatisfied. That’s not a bad spot to be after a day like today.

Passing

Jack Plummer: 23 of 35, 268 yards, 3TDs, 1 INT

Rushing

Jaydn Ott: 17 carries, 104 yards, 0TD

DeCarlos Brooks: 8 carries, 35 yards, 0TD

Damien Moore: 3 carries, 6 yards, 0TD

Ashton Stredick: 2 carries, 13 yards, 0TD

Jack Plummer: 3 carries, -10 yards, 0TD

Receiving

Jeremiah Hunter: 6 catches, 78 yards, 1TD

J. Michael Strudivant: 4 catches, 55 yards, 0TD

Monroe Young: 2 catches, 46 yards, 0TD

Jaydn Ott: 2 catches, 26 yards, 1TD

Keleki Latu: 2 catches, 14 yards, 0TD

Mavin Anderson: 2 catches, 12 yards, 1 TD

Tommy Christakos: 1 catch, 17 yards, 0TD

Elijah Mojarro: 1 catch, 10 yards, 0TD

DeCarlos Brooks: 1 catch, 5 yards, 0TD

Andy Alfieri: 1 catch, 5 yards, 0TD

Damien Moore: 1 catch, 0 yards, 0TD