Cal Bears head coach Justin Wilcox met with the media on Tuesday to discuss his team's upcoming game against Florida State on Saturday night. This will be Cal's first conference game as a member of the ACC. Cal is 3-0 so far this season with wins coming over UC-Davis (31-13), Auburn (21-14) and San Diego State (31-10). Wilcox spoke on number of issues, including his team's health, the challenge of traveling across country twice in three weeks and the challenge of facing Florida State on the road.

One of the more important updates Wilcox gave during his 20-minute chat with the media is that the team's best offensive player, running back Jaydn Ott, who did not play against San Diego State this past weekend, is probable for the Bears' game with FSU.

Wilcox on if he had any concern about flying cross country for the second time in three weeks:

No. We always leave a day early ... We leave a day early. Practice on Thursday morning. we're a morning practice outfit anyway. So, we practice, and we make it a race to see how fast we can get off the ground ... Our team really enjoys it, we get to spend a lot of time together. They have some time on the plane and on Friday set aside for some schoolwork ... We spend all Friday together, we get some downtime, we get some meeting time, they got some academic time. Obviously, we get out walk through and so you get your body clock ready and our whole group seems to really enjoy it.

Wilcox on his team's 3-0 start and how it's impacted his program:

Ton of excitement, and that's a great thing. We want to feed that, keep getting better and keep practicing and identifying things that we can all do a little bit better so we can perform at a higher level each and every time we step on the field, there's not one thing. We were talking about this as a team today.

Wilcox on if there is a heightened sense of urgency in practice knowing that FSU is 0-3 and has its back up against a wall:

No, we try to bring great urgency and intensity each and every week. We have, obviously, a ton of respect for Florida State. All you've got to do is turn the video on ... But, no, we want to bring intensity and urgency each and every time we get out there. Because, if we don't do that, then we're doing ourselves a disservice. There's only so many chances you get to do this and thankfully our team recognizes that.

Wilcox on what his perception of FSU was entering the season and now after the Seminoles' rough start to 2024:

I think they're a very, very talented football team. The games haven't gone their way from one reason or another. We recognize how slim the margins are in playing great football and not great football. And they're a very gifted team. They got really good coaches and they're a prideful outfit. So we know what's in store and we've got to be, we'll have to play our best game, and our guys are expecting that. And so what is important is we have a really good week of practice because all you have to is and I understand, records are records but if you sit down in our offices and turn on the tape, you see what you see and you trust that, and our players do the same thing. So we know how gifted they are and how good of coaches and scheme they've got. So we're going to need to play great football on Saturday.

Wilcox on what beating FSU would mean for his program:

Well, it would mean we went out and played our best game of the season thus far and had an opportunity to go 4-0. And so, as I mentioned, there's only so many chances you get and it's going to be a great venue. We've never been down there before. Again, in a different place with some great players and coaches. So it's an unbelievably exciting opportunity.

Wilcox on whether having played against DJU last year when he was Oregon State's QB gives Cal an advantage in preparation:

DJ is a really talented guy. I remember him in high school, even in early years of high school. He's a big, physical guy. He can throw the ball all over the place. He's played a lot of football, and we played him last year. He played an excellent game against us last year and so we've got a ton of respect for him. He can throw it. He's really hard to tackle because he's so big. So we've got a lot of respect for DJ. ... Anytime you've seen somebody once, you kind of have a little bit more of a feel for him, but it's a different system.

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