California Golden Bears running back Jaydn Ott (1) scores a touchdown during the first half of their game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
A side benefit of being the quarterback at Cal are the moments Fernando Mendoza enjoyed last Saturday against USC when Jaydn Ott found a crease at the line of scrimmage and was gone.
The sophomore running back had touchdown dashes of 43 and 61 yards, and Mendoza had the best seat in the house.
“I’m trying to come up with a word to describe it — it’s exhilarating,” Mendoza said. “It’s kind of like when you go on a rollercoaster and it just takes off. When you hand the ball off to him and you see an open hole, you know it’s going to be a touchdown.
“You see the No. 1 with Ott above it and you just see it get smaller and smaller and smaller.”
The No. 24 Trojans overcame all of it, rallying from a 14-point hole in the fourth quarter to escape Memorial Stadium with a 50-49 victory.
“Our hopes were to get the team a win on offense,” Ott said. “It was pretty much running a track meet out there but it obviously wasn’t enough.”
In a surprising role reversal, it’s been the Cal offense most often carrying the defense this season. The emergence of Mendoza as a promising redshirt freshman quarterback has been an effective complement to a running game powered by Ott.
Mired at the bottom of Pac-12 statistics for the past five years, the Bears find themselves fifth in the conference in scoring at 32.3 points per game.
The challenge on Saturday afternoon will be greater. Cal (3-5, 1-4 Pac-12) visits No. 6 Oregon (7-1, 4-1), which not only ranks third nationally in scoring (45.5 points per game) but also 11th in scoring defense (15.6).
In particular, the Ducks are stingy against the run, ranked 12th nationally allowing just 95.6 yards per outing. They have surrendered just three rushing touchdowns — the same number Ott scored by himself against USC.
“They’re very long and big — one of the bigger fronts we’ve seen. They’re tough to run against,” Cal offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said. “We’re going to have to use a lot of misdirection and get them thinking a little bit because we know they’re talented across the board.”
And the Ducks seem to be getting better as the competition ramps up. In five Pac-12 games, opponents are producing just 76.8 yards rushing per game at the meager clip of 2.5 yards per carry.
Cal says Ott is healthy after coming out of the USC game early fourth quarter. It’s the third time this season he has failed to finish a game because of an ailment, and he missed the Idaho game altogether after trying to vault over an Auburn defender and landing hard.
In spite of that, Ott leads the Pac-12 and is ninth in FBS at 108 rushing yards per game. His 756 yards have him on pace to become Cal’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Patrick Laird ran for 1,127 in 2017.
The Bears hope Ott remains upright on Saturday because backup Isaiah Ifanse, who has run for 365 yards and seven touchdowns, is banged up and not certain to play.
Freshman Jaivan Thomas of Oakland is getting more opportunity and making the best of it. He scored on the 13-yard pass play with 58 seconds left that brought the Bears within a point of USC before the two-point conversion try failed.
“I think he’s gotten past the nerves of his first few games,” Spavital said of Thomas. “He’s gaining more confidence as the season has gone on. We know what he’s capable of doing — we think he’s going to be a very good all-purpose back.”
The Bears may also utilize Justin Thomas-Williams, a Tennessee transfer who sat out the first seven games while rehabbing a leg injury. He made his debut in the fourth quarter against USC and his 23-yard dash put the Bears in position for Thomas’ scoring catch.
But it’s Ott who has the speed to pull away from pursuit and to force defenses to put more players in the box.
Mendoza would love to see him disappear into the horizon again on Saturday.
Originally published at Jeff Faraudo