The Arizona Wildcats lost to Cal 49-31 Saturday afternoon in Berkeley. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics from the UA’s setback:
NOTES
* Arizona had won the previous six meetings against Cal. Every game had been decided by seven or fewer points. The last double-figure margin in the series came in 2008, when the Wildcats defeated the Bears 42-27 in Tucson.
* Arizona allowed 599 yards and accumulated 536 yards. Those were both the highest figures during the Jedd Fisch era. The Wildcats last had 500-plus yards in a game against Oregon State on Nov. 2, 2019. They last allowed 500-plus later that season against Utah. Arizona yielded 500-plus yards three times that year.
* Cal rushed for 354 yards, including 274 by freshman Jaydn Ott. It was the first time Arizona had allowed 300 or more rushing yards in a game since last season against UCLA (329).
* Ott’s 274 yards were the third most in a game in Cal history and the most by an FBS player so far this season. He had touchdown runs of 73 and 72 yards.
* The Bears’ 49 points were the most they had scored in a game since a 49-7 victory at Oregon State on Oct. 20, 2018. Cal entered Saturday averaged 23.7 points per game. It was also the most points Arizona has allowed under Fisch (previous high: 44).
* UA quarterback Jayden de Laura passed for a career-high 401 yards. It was the 19th 400-yard passing performance in school history.
* Arizona recorded multiple rushing touchdowns (Jonah Coleman, Michael Wiley) in back-to-back weeks for the first time October 2019 (Colorado, Washington).
* Wiley has scored a touchdown in three consecutive games and eight of nine dating to last season.
* Jacob Cowing recorded his second 100-yard receiving game in four contests with Arizona. It was the 15th 100-yard game of his college career.
* Cowing has scored at least one touchdown in each of his four games as a Wildcat and has six touchdowns on the season – matching Wiley’s team-high total from last year.
* Receiver Dorian Singer and tight end Tanner McLachlan both set career highs in catches and yards. Singer had a team-high eight receptions for 103 yards. McLachlan had six catches for 88 yards.
* Arizona had two 100-yard receivers for the first time since the “Hill Mary” game against Cal in 2014 (Cayleb Jones, Austin Hill).
* Safety Isaiah Taylor was credited with a team-high nine tackles. Taylor, who played the entire second half in place of the injured Jaxen Turner, had one tackle in five career games entering Saturday.
QUOTES
Fisch on the loss: “This is how we're going to learn. This is the process of building. Go on the road for a Pac-12 game against a team that was determined to play really well. And they did play well. Credit to them, credit to Justin (Wilcox).”
Fisch on what the team can take from the game: “We’re gonna be able to take a ton (off) of it. No. 1 is that I'll do a better job coaching this week. Offensively, I’ll made sure we put our guys in the best possible position every time. I know defensively they're gonna take that same mentality. I know our staff is excited to get back at it. We're gonna play a team (Colorado) that's desperate for a win back at our place. We're excited about going back home. And we're going to do everything we can to go 1-0. That's our mentality. That's our plan. That's what our goal’s going to be come next Saturday night.”
Fisch on de Laura’s performance, which included two touchdowns and two late interceptions: “One of the things that we talk about is, there's a game within the game. You're playing a game and you're making decisions, but then you're also playing the score and you're playing the situation. ... The two interceptions (that) occurred, one was on first down, one was on second down. I’m not a fan of first- or second-down interceptions. In these situations, you have scrambles, you have checkdowns and you have opportunities to throw it away. So we'll continue to build off of that. I thought Jaden did a lot of great things in the game. He made good decisions all the way throughout until the very end.
Arizona DT Kyon Barrs on the defense’s struggles: “We prepared well. We just didn't execute like we needed to. Cal’s a great team. They came to play today.”
Wiley on the need for the offense to pick up the defense when it’s down: “Anytime we don't score we feel like we’re letting them down. I think, in totality, we have to do a better job of just complementing each other offensively and defensively. If we do that, we can win a lot of games.”
Wilcox on Ott’s performance: "That's explosive. We've been talking about it for a long time. You've seen it in flashes. We saw it a bunch today. He's a dynamic guy and has the ability to take it to the house from a lot of spots."
Ott on his performance: "Every time I touch the ball I feel like I'm going to score. That's my mentality."
Cal QB Jack Plummer on Ott’s performance: "Two hundred seventy-four rushing yards, 14.4 average? That's pretty good if you're playing Pee Wee football, or you're playing at the highest level, so he played extremely well."
Wilcox on Cal’s defense in the first half: “That’s as poor as we’ve played on defense in the first half There probably wasn’t anything good, to be honest with you. First half we didn’t tackle well, we didn’t rush, we didn’t cover anybody. It was bad.”
STATS
* Arizona had 31 first downs; Cal had 27
* Cal averaged 9.1 yards per play; Arizona averaged 7.5
* Arizona had 8 penalties for 76 yards; Cal had 7 for 80
* Cal possessed the ball for 33 minutes, 14 seconds; Arizona had if for 26:46
* Cal converted 4 of 9 third downs; Arizona converted 3 of 10
* Cal scored touchdowns on 4 of 4 trips into the red zone; Arizona was 3 of 5
* Cal’s average starting field position was its 25-yard line; Arizona’s was its 24
* Wiley rushed 14 times for 79 yards
* Plummer completed 18 of 28 passes for 245 yards and 3 TDs
* Cal WR Jeremiah Hunter had 5 catches for 82 yards and 1 TD
* UA safety Christian Young had 4 tackles, 1 TFL and 1 PBU
* Cals safety Craig Woodson had 7 tackles and 2 TFLs
* Cal safety Daniel Scott had 7 tackles and 1 INT
