California Head Coach Justin Wilcox
On overcoming a slow start:
"There wasn't any panic. The guys stayed with it. We knew there would be some adversity in this game."
 
On Chase Garbers coming back after struggling early:
"It was calming down and trusting his preparation. We expect him to make plays. He kept his composure and didn't panic by any means. Overall, I liked that he battled back from a slow start. It was good to see."
 
On Christopher Brown Jr.:
"We knew Chris would touch the ball a lot. He ran like he has been running in the spring and fall camp. That's what we expect of him. He's a big, physical guy and this is his type of game – give it to him and let him break tackles. He's a hard guy to bring down. It was great to see him out there. He's been preparing for this."
 
On Kuony Deng's first game at Cal:
"He was eager to get out there for his first game. Every rep he gets, he's learning something. He has some good traits. He's just going to keep getting better and better. I'm excited about him. He's eager to learn. He's a great, great kid. He just eats it up. Each week, we're going to see growth out of him."

California Players
Chase Garbers, QB
On the slow start of the game and how they worked through it:
"Early on in the game, the fumble off the opening kickoff was definitely a momentum swing for them, putting them in our redzone. I think that attributed to it. I think also offensively we came out too loose. I think we were lackadaisical to start in a way, I think just getting that first game out of us and we regrouped and we came back in the second quarter and the second half and did what we do. I think just getting that looseness out."
 
On more explosive offensive performance:
"The wide receiver group changed obviously, new additions which were big for us. I think after last season we just put more focus on pushing the ball downfield. I think we were so conservative as an offense last year, you know with our defense, trying not to mess up for them, but now I think coming off of spring ball and fall camp, and now game one, I think pushing the ball downfield is more of an emphasis for us and will be later on in the year. "
 
On Christopher Brown Jr.'s performance:
"It wasn't too much of a surprise because we see it every day in practice — CB going to town on defenses. Clearly, to be a good offense in the nation you have to run the ball well and I think that's what we pride ourselves on, just punishing the defense and running the ball with execution."
 
Kekoa Crawford, WR
On his Cal debut:
"It was just a blessing to be back out there. It's been two years, so it just felt good to get out there with the group of guys and show what I can do."
 
Christopher Brown Jr., RB
On his game plan today:
"My plan was just to follow my coaches' rules. We have been doing the same thing all of camp and the plan was not to change anything from practice. The same as we have been doing all along meaning going through eye progression, reading the correct gaps, doing what Coach Edwards teaches us to do day-by-day."
 
Evan Weaver, ILB
On offense consistently running the ball:
"It's huge. Chris Brown and Marcel Dancy had great games today. The offensive line pushed them all around the field. You could tell in the third and fourth quarter they were really starting to wear them out and it's good to see. That's what they have been doing to us in practice, so it's good to see that and for it to translate over. It's awesome."

UC Davis Dan Hawkins
Overall assessment of the game:
"I'm really proud of the way the guys played, really scrapped, really battled. We got a couple of turnovers in the first half which obviously helped us and garnered a little momentum there. We came out and started fast in the second half which I was happy about.
 
"They started leaning on us and getting the running game going and hit a couple of plays there but our guys really scrapped and battled. When you play this level of competition, whether it's a playoff game or this level, you obviously are not afforded a ton of errors like untimely penalties and turnovers, which are going to hurt you.
 
"I'm super proud of the effort. The coaches had a great plan and the guys competed well."
 
On UC Davis' defense creating opportunities:
"We talk about that. You guys know. Everyone wants to know what the keys to the game are, well it is pretty much turnovers every game. We try to work at that, as does every other team. We try to work at not giving it up."
 
On takeaways from the game:
"There's a lot of turns and twists in every season. I think it's a good start. It's not a win but I don't think we're walking away from here thinking we operated poorly or we didn't give our best effort. It was a good game. We played hard, we played well. We competed. We did the things you're supposed to do in this sport and that will carry a long way."
 
On whether Cal presented any surprises:
"No, not really. I've known Justin all the way back to his Boise State days. He always does a great job and they always have a few wrinkles, and make adjustments but it always come down to blocking and tackling."
 
On Cal's running game down the stretch:
"They've got some girth up front and that (running) back…I teased him afterwards and told him he went to the wrong U-C. Maybe his application got re-routed, I don't know (laughing). He's a big kid and he runs hard. Their O-line did a great job. Steve Greatwood is a very good O-line coach."
 
On Cal's secondary:
"They are just not going to give up many big plays. You go back and look at Wilcox' defense during his tenure, they don't give up a lot of big plays so they're going to force you to dink and dunk, catch it and run with it, but they've very seldom going to be out of position and you're very seldom going to get behind them. They're going to keep things in front of them and pressure you."

UC Davis Players
Jake Maier, QB
On Cal's Overall Performance:
"You have to give credit to them. That secondary is phenomenal. They were advertised at an elite level. I have a lot of respect for what they do and the disruption they caused for a quarterback. With that being said, I need to make the plays. I have to be more accurate in situations we need to make a play, and that was ultimately the difference. When you have an opportunity, you have to execute, and if you don't, you're probably going to come up on the short end."
 
On Cal's Defense:
"I'm not surprised as far as how they came out today. They do what they do at a very high level, that's what makes them great. Their cover ability, ability to read play coverages, they did a really great job. We pretty much knew what they were lined up in most of the night, and we weren't able to convert on certain plays."
 
Nas Anesi, LB
On Cal Running Game:
"They did a really good job as far as staying on their blocks. We'll go back and continue to watch film and focus on having more integrity. But overall, I thought they did a really good job."
 
On Cal's Offense:
"There were no surprises at all. Our coaches did a really great job as far as game planning and our scout team did a great job preparing us. It's a lot of small things and errors we need to fix."
 
On Team's Overall Defensive Performance:
"I thought we played well in the first half, that's exactly what we needed to do.  We had a lot of energy and we were physical. As far as the second half, I thought we started to let up. They [Cal] capitalized on small errors and that's what bit us."