Cal Sports Report

Cal Game Summary: Bears Lose to Auburn 14-10

Cal running back Jaydn Ott leaves the game in the third quarter with an injury

Jake Curtis

In this story:

Cal lost to Auburn 14-10 before a crowd of 44,141 at Cal's Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.

Cal running back Jaydn Ott left the game in the third quarter with what appeared to be an upper-body injury. There was no report on the seriousness of the injury or whether he would play next week. He gained 78 yards on 20 carries before the injury.

Auburn clinched the win when DJ James intercepted a Sam Jackson V pass in the end zone on a fourth-and-13 play from the Auburn 18-yard line with 1:44 left in the game.

Ben Finley was the Bears’ starting quarterback on Saturday, and Jackson V entered the game in the second quarter, leading the Bears to their first touchdown.

Cal kicker Michael Luckhurst was 1-for-4 on field-goal attempts

The summary:

AUBURN 14, CAL 10

RECORDS: CAL (1-1), AUBURN (2-0)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Auburn defensive back DJ James.  He had five tackles and the game-saving interception.

TURNING POINT: Auburn's DJ James intercepted a Sam Jackson V pass in the end zone on a fourth-and 13 play from the Auburn 18 with 1;44 left in the game, preserving Auburn's 14-10 lead.

CAL INJURY NOTES: Cal center Matthew Cindric did not play because of an undisclosed injury.

KEY PLAY 1: Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne fumbled before going out of bounds at the Auburn 29-yard line, and Cal’s Jackson Sirmon caught the fumble in the air at the 31-yard line and returned it for an apparent touchdown. However, the officials had inadvertently blown the play dead when Thorne went out of bounds, not realizing the ball had been fumbled, so Cal got the ball at the Auburn 31-yard line with 13:33 left in the first quarter. Initially, no fumble was ruled, but upon video review, it was ruled a fumble but not a touchdown.

KEY PLAY 2: Cal kicker Michael Luckhurst booted a 39-yard field goal to give Cal a 3-0 lead with 9:42 left in the opening quarter.

KEY PLAY 3: Cal kicker Michael Luckhurst missed a 42-yard field goal attempt with 4:09 left in the first quarter, keeping the score at 3-0. Cal had taken over at the Auburn 33-yard line before the missed kick.

KEY PLAY 4: On a first-down play from the Cal 20-yard line, Bears running back Isaiah Ifanse fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Auburn’s Donovan Kaufman at the Cal 17-yard line with 13:01 left in the second quarter. It was Ifanse’s first carry of the game.

KEY PLAY 5: Three plays after the fumble recovery, Auburn’s Payton Thorne threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Jay Fair on a third-and-6 play. That put Auburn ahead 7-3 with 11:50 remaining in the first half.

KEY PLAY 6: Auburn’s Brian Battie fumbled at the Cal 35-yard line and Cal’s Patrick McMorris recovered the ball at the 35 with 7:20 left in the first half.

KEY PLAY 7: Cal’s Jaydn Ott scored a touchdown on a 14-yard run to complete a 65-yard drive after the fumble recovery to give Cal a 10-7 lead with 4:47 left in the first half. Bears quarterback Sam Jackson V, who entered the game for the first time on that possession, completed a 22-yard pass to Jeremiah Hunter to the Auburn 32-yard line earlier in the drive.

KEY PLAY 8: Cal’s Michael Luckhurst made what would have been a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, but the play was negated by a holding penalty on Cal. The Bears did not attempt a 61-yard field goal.

KEY PLAY 9: Jaydn Ott was upended and injured when he landed on his back and head with 2:44 left in the third quarter.  He stayed on the ground before walking off with an escort.

KEY PLAY 10: Cal's Michael Luckhurst missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt with 1:51 left in the third quarter, keeping the Cal lead at 10-7.

KEY PLAY 11: Cal's Michael Luckhurst missed a 44-yard field goal with 11:08 left in the fourth quarter, keeping Cal's lead at 10-7.

KEY PLAY 12: Auburn's Payton Thorne threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, giving Auburn a 14-10 lead with 6:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 13: Cal's Ricky Correia recovered a Jarquez Hunter fumble at the Cal 41-yard line with 4:00 left in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 14: On a fourth-and-13 play from the Auburn 18-yard line, Sam Jackson V's pass into the end zone was intercepted by Auburn's DJ James with 1:44 left.

STAT OF THE GAME: Cal kicker Michael Luckhurst was 1-for-4 on field goal attempts, all from inside 45 yards. He made a 51-yarder at the end of the first half that was nullified by a Cal penalty.

STAT OF THE GAME II: Auburn committed four turnovers and still won. Cal had three turnovers, but one was on a Hail Mary pass at the end of the first half.

QUARTERBACK STATISTICS: Cal’s Ben Finley was 7-for-11 for 34 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Cal's Sam Jackson V was 14-for-27 for 126 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions (one of the picks was on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half). Auburn’s Payton Thorne was 9-for-14 for 94 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.  Auburn’s Robby Ashford was 1-for-3 for zero yards, and ran four times for 8 yards.

WHAT IT MEANS: Cal still has trouble in close games, a problem that plagued the Bears last year as well. Until they can win one-score games they will continue to struggle.

CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: Cal's chances of landing a bowl berth stand at 30%. This was one of the games Cal needed to win to have its best chance to get the six wins needed for bowl eligibility. Next week's game is not a gimme.

NEXT GAME: Cal (1-1) vs. Idaho (2-0) at Berkeley on Saturday, September 16. Kickoff: 1 p.m. TV: Pac-12 Network. Idaho is an FCS school that plays in the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals defeated Lamar 42-17 in their opener and beat Mountain West team Nevada 33-6 in Reno on Saturday. In the first two games this season, Idaho quarterback Gevani McCoy has completed 72.5% of his passes with four touchdowns and one interception.

Cover photo of Ben Finley is by Neville E. Guard, USA TODAY Sports

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Published
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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