California’s first game as an Atlantic Coast Conference school will be against a longtime Pacific Coast rival when the Golden Bears host UC Davis on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, Calif.
In the first of three nonconference lead-ups to its ACC opener at Florida State, Cal will seek to make it three straight home wins over the rival Aggies in the last six seasons. The Golden Bears won 27-13 in 2019, then 34-13 in 2022.
A bowl team that went 6-7 last season, Cal hopes its Heisman Trophy candidate, running back Jaydn Ott, can get a jump-start on the competition against a UC Davis squad that went 7-4 last year. Ott topped 150 rushing yards five times last season en route to 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Ott’s 92.2 rushing yards per game rank second in the nation among returning backs. The junior begins the season with 2,202 career rushing yards; only one Golden Bear — J.J. Arrington with 2,452 in 2003-04 — had a higher total in his first two years in Berkeley.
While everyone knows who will be running the ball for Cal, coach Justin Wilcox has been unwilling to disclose who will be throwing it after a tight competition between returning eight-game starter Fernando Mendoza and transfers Chandler Rogers of North Texas and CJ Harris of Ohio.
“We will have a starting quarterback,” Wilcox teased in his final pregame press conference this week. “I don’t see how (making his name public) helps our team right now.”
UC Davis, which has earned Nos. 17 and 18 national rankings in preseason FCS polls, returns a star running back of its own in senior Lan Larison, the preseason Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
The Idaho native rushed for 1,101 yards and 13 touchdowns in just eight games last season, going for 255 against Eastern Washington and later 264 against Idaho State.
“There’s a lot that Lan still has to show,” Aggies coach Kevin Burke said of his All-American candidate. “He is becoming a more versatile player for us.”
Fifth-year senior Miles Hastings, a veteran of 34 games and more than 6,000 career passing yards at UC Davis, returns at quarterback.
The Aggies are winless in 11 meetings with Cal.
