Cal needs ground game to match passing prowess against undefeated No. 22 Pitt

As the Cal football team travels east for the third time already this season to face No. 22 Pitt on Saturday afternoon, the Golden Bears need to pack their running game for the trip.

It certainly was absent last Saturday when the Bears lost 39-38 to unbeaten Miami after forging a 25-point lead.

Cal’s ground game issues start with running back Jaydn Ott’s nearly season-long nagging ankle injury. But that’s far from the whole story.

If the Bears (3-2, 0-2 ACC) hope to upend the surprising Panthers (5-0, 1-0) for their first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference victory, they’ll need to present a more balanced offensive attack.

Against the Hurricanes, quarterback Fernando Mendoza passed for 285 yards and two touchdowns and triggered four plays of 50 yards or more — something no Cal team has accomplished in at least 12 years, including Jared Goff’s three prolific seasons.

But three running backs — Ott, Jaivian Thomas and Kadarius Calloway — totaled just 23 yards combined on 15 rushes, a meager average of 1.5 yards per attempt. Nine of their 15 runs produced 1 yard or less. Ott finished with a career-low 2 rushing yards.

A week earlier, Miami gave up 206 yards on the ground against Virginia Tech.

“The running game, it was a struggle,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox conceded. “We couldn’t get much going, kind of our traditional run game. The biggest challenge was up front. We’ve got to find ways to run the ball more effectively.”

It’s been an issue most of the season. Cal is 96th nationally at 131.2 rushing yards per game — 40 yards per game fewer than a year ago.

Their inability to sustain drives and run clock with the lead against Miami left the Bears on the short end of a dramatic 86-to-49 discrepancy in total plays. That led to the defense tiring in the fourth quarter, when the Canes outgained Cal 278 yards to 26 and scored 21 points.

“It’s very, very difficult to win when the play count is nearly double for the other team,” Wilcox said. “We had some (big-play) shots, but we’ve got to get more out of our normal down and distance.”

Ott, who rushed for 1,315 yards a year ago, injured his ankle in the opener against UC Davis and has never found a rhythm. He scored on a 66-yard pass play and a 5-yard run against Miami, then apparently aggravated the ankle and saw limited action in the second half.

Wilcox listed Ott as probable to play this week.

Cal also has played all but part of one game without guard Sioape Vatikani — perhaps the team’s best offensive lineman — who missed time early due to a foot ailment and is questionable to play Saturday after suffering a neck or head injury at Florida State last month.

In an effort to create some diversity in their offense, Cal used No. 2 quarterback Chandler Rogers situationally against Miami. Rogers, who rushed for 900 yards in previous stops at Louisiana-Monroe and North Texas, scored on a 9-yard keeper against Miami and completed a 12-yard pass for a first down during another scoring drive.

“I wanted to package Chandler in there and knew it was going to be tough sledding running the football,” offensive coordinator Mike Bloesch said. “He can give us some versatility, we can do some different things in the run game and he did a great job.”

Bloesch said Rogers — who also passed for nearly 3,400 yards with 29 touchdowns last season at North Texas — will be part of the Bears’ game plans going forward.

“It felt good to be back out there, contributing to the team, trying to win a ballgame,” Rogers said. “I know I can add value to the team, open the playbook more with different types of runs. Anything to help the team win is what I want to do.”