The Auburn name carries with it a long tradition of college football excellence, but Cal running back Jaydn Ott doesn’t want his teammates to be psyched out simply by the name of the team the Bears will play on Saturday night.
“You know, there’s a lot of focus on the name Auburn,” he said Wednesday in the video atop this report, “and, you know, what I see on film is just like, not really in comparison to what their name is. So I just want to get that in my guys’ heads, you know, the name doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day they’re still human and we have just as much of a chance as they do to go in there and get a win.”
Asked what a win this weekend would mean for Cal, Ott said this:
“It’ll be very encouraging when we do get this win, but I feel like our focus is going to be not letting it get into our head and getting too big-headed after we do get the dub.”
Told he sounded pretty confident that Cal will win this game, Ott responded, “Yeah, we are.”
Ott rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns in two and half quarters of action in the Golden Bears’ season-opening 58-21 victory North Texas, and Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze lavished Ott with praise in his weekly press conference on Monday.
Presumably Ott will be a player Auburn’s defense will be focused on stopping, and whether he can be productive despite that attention might determine whether the Bears can win its home opener against Southeastern Conference team.
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