3-Headed Rushing Attack Carries Cal into Pac-12 Opener at UW

California and Washington couldn’t be more opposite as football teams in heading into their Pac-12 opener on Saturday night at Husky Stadium.

Through the first three games this season, the Golden Bears have run the ball 139 times, the most of any team in the conference, as they take on the Huskies, the national passing leader.

On Tuesday, Cal coach Justin Wilcox said sophomore Jadyn Ott, one of the league's better rushers, is expected to play against the UW after sitting out against Idaho last weekend.

Despite playing in one fewer game, Ott enters tied with Oregon State sophomore Damien Martinez for most carries, both with 40. Martinez leads the conference in rushing with 351 yards while Ott has 266.

Ott is 6-foot, 200-pounder from Chino, California, who has run for 3 scores and he's one of three Bears backs who have shared the load early in the season, joined by the locally produced Isaiah Ifanse and Ashton Stredick.

The well-traveled Ifanse is a 5-foot-9, 205-pound senior who played at Bellevue High School in suburban Seattle and for San Jose State and Montana State before transferring to Cal. He has run for 206 yards and 4 touchdowns on 36 carries this season.

In a 31-17 victory over Idaho, the 5-foot-9, 200-pound Ifanse from Needville, Texas, rushed for 137 yards and a touchdown, while Stredick backed him with for 77 yards on 11 carries. A sophomore, Stredick has picked up 152 yards and a score on 32 carries this season.

Part of the reason for Cal’s run-heavy offense is a lack of stability at quarterback.

Sophomore Ben Finley opened the season as the starter at North Texas in a 58-21 win and threw for 289 yards on 24 of 34 attempts and a score, and was intercepted once.

Yet he struggled the following week in a 14-10 loss to Auburn, completing 7 of 11 passes for just 31 yards in the first half.

Fellow sophomore Sam Jackson V replaced Finley at the end of the second quarter and led Cal on its first touchdown drive of the game, capped off by a 14-yard run by Ott to give the Golden Bears a 10-7 lead.

Jackson has proved to be the more dynamic signal-caller with his ability to use his legs more than Finley and keep Cal’s offense on the field. However, he’s completed just over 50 percent of his throws and hasn’t thrown for more than 130 yards in a game this season.

Against Idaho, Jackson drew the start but Cal struggled and fell behind 17-0 hole in the first half before running off 31 unanswered points. Jackson completed 12 of 23 passes for 108 yards and 2 scores.

In facing the UW, which features the No. 1 passing offense in the country at 493.3 yards per game, Cal could be hard-pressed to keep pace.

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