BERKELEY — Having survived Arizona State 24-21 on Saturday afternoon to notch its first Pac-12 win of the season, Cal now braces for a ferocious six-week stretch that features games against five teams ranked in the AP Top-25.
And the Golden Bears say they’re excited about it.
“We’re all competitors so we love it. We see the schedule and grin,” said wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter, who caught six passes for 89 yards and a touchdown against the Sun Devils. “We know what type of schedule we’ve got. We’re just going to attack it, go at everybody the same way. We don’t care who it is.”
Who it is should get the attention of every Cal fan. Yes, the Bears improved to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in the conference. But things get serious beginning next week when they face No. 19 Oregon State at Berkeley in a 7 p.m. game.
After that, it’s No. 10 Utah in Salt Lake City, a bye, No. 8 USC in home, No. 9 Oregon in Eugene and No. 16 Washington State at home.
“Yeah, it’s good teams,” linebacker Jackson Sirmon said. “Whether we’re ready or not, we don’t really have a choice. I think we’re ready.
“If you look at a schedule and say, `uh-oh,’ you’re not in a good spot. You’ve got to look at it as an opportunity and that’s how we will look at it.”
Sophomore running back Jaydn Ott, who ran for 165 yards and a touchdown, said the Bears will have to be much better going forward.
“It wasn’t good enough. I’m actually kind of upset,” he said after the Bears struggled to beat an ASU team (1-4, 0-2) still without a win over an FBS team. “There’s a lot we need to work on as an offense. We need to come out with a fire next week.”
Here are takeaways from the Bears’ win over ASU:
JACKSON EARNS QB START: Sam Jackson V got the call as the Bears’ starting quarterback and for the first time this season one player ran the offense for the entire game. Part of that was because co-starter Ben Finley missed a couple of days of practice after getting banged up at Washington.
But coach Justin Wilcox was encouraged if not satisfied by Jackson after he went 12 for 29 for 130 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers.
“Sam did some good things today,” Wilcox said. “We’ve got to continue to get better at there.”
Wilcox said the coaching staff had thought about giving third-stringer Fernando Mendoza some playing time, but said, “We just never felt there was a natural point in the game to do that.”
Jackson gave himself a harsh assessment.
“I didn’t play too well, but obviously we came out with the win,” he said. “I think the guys came out and played hard, but it starts with me. We just came out a little flat, which has been the story of our season.”
Jackson had two runs totaling 48 yards wiped out by two of the Bears’ seven penalties.
RUN GAME CRANKS UP: A strength most of the season, the Cal run game produced 196 yards, including 165 on 29 carries by Ott, who also scored on a 2-yard run with 10:52 left that gave the Bears a 24-13 lead.
He also was stopped on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1-yard line with 2:50 to go that could have given the Bears some breathing room.
“That’s just on me — I’ve got to be better,” Ott said.
Isaiah Ifanse, a graduate transfer from FCS Montana State, had 26 yards and a touchdown and went over 4,000 career rushing yards at both schools.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Punter Lachlan Wilson punted seven times for an average of 49.7 yards, with four punts of 50 yards or longer and four that pinned the Sun Devils inside their own 20-yard line. A couple of those were downed at the 2- and 5-yard lines.
“You could make the argument he was the most valuable player for us today,” Wilcox said.
12 ON THE FIELD: The Sun Devils scored an apparent touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1-yard line with 5:33 left in the third quarter but Wilcox immediately asked for an official review.
The issue?
“Math,” Wilcox said. “I’m not a smart guy, but you only get 11 people. They had 12, we had 11.”
The play was nullified and the Sun Devils settled for a field goal, and the four-point swing was critical in a game decided by three points.
