{"id":8595,"date":"2026-09-06T22:07:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T22:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8595"},"modified":"2026-09-06T22:07:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T22:07:26","slug":"cals-deflating-loss-to-ucla-3-things-that-doomed-bears-and-3-that-provide-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8595","title":{"rendered":"Cal’s deflating loss to UCLA: 3 things that doomed Bears, and 3 that provide hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BERKELEY \u2014 What Tosh Lupoi took away from his first game as head coach at Cal was \u201cthe sting\u201d of being tied with UCLA midway through the fourth quarter, only to lose 45-24.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI couldn\u2019t ask for anything better as far as the sting of having a competitive loss early,\u201d he said, striking a calm and mostly positive mood following a game that was there for the taking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a sting like this, it ignites the desire to improve. I\u2019ve got to improve, we\u2019ve got to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears, playing in front of a capacity crowd of 54,283 fans at Memorial Stadium and an ESPN national audience on Saturday night, showed themselves to be pretty much the unfinished product you\u2019d expect from a team with a new head coach, first-time coordinators and 32 incoming transfer players.<\/p>\n

Against a UCLA team under new coach Bob Chesney, the Bears led early, fell behind 24-17 at halftime, pulled even, then came apart, coughing up two turnovers and surrendering three touchdowns in the final nine minutes.<\/p>\n

Here are three things that went wrong for the Bears:<\/p>\n

JKS GIVEAWAYS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele passed for 271 yards and two touchdowns, but also had three turnovers.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The first of his two interceptions, with the score tied 24-all and 8:53 left in the game, snapped his program-record streak of 212 consecutive passes without a pick. Both interceptions set up UCLA touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely didn\u2019t play to the standard,\u201d Sagapolutele said. \u201cI\u2019ve got to put the offense in a better position and I\u2019ve got to do better myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

BOTCHED FOURTH DOWN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even before the two picks, Cal fouled up a fourth-and-3 play from the UCLA 47 early in the fourth quarter. Ashton Rivera had taken over at center after an injury to starter Bastian Swinney, and he and Sagapolutele did not connect on the snap, giving UCLA the ball on downs.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Sagapolutele took the heat for the misplay. \u201cThat\u2019s definitely not on him; it was on me,\u201d he said. \u201cThe communication was all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lupoi called the play \u201ca momentum killer,\u201d but didn\u2019t second-guess the call. \u201cI would go for that 10 out of 10 times with the amount of time left and where we were at and how our defense was playing at the time,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, we didn\u2019t execute.\u201d<\/p>\n

COULDN\u2019T STOP THE RUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were some encouraging numbers for Cal, which ran 87 plays to 54 for the Bruins and, as a result, enjoyed nearly a 10-minute time-of-possession edge.<\/p>\n

But UCLA ran through the Cal defense, rolling up 277 rushing yards at 8.7 yards per attempt. The Bruins didn\u2019t attempt a single pass on the final three scoring drives that gave them a 21-point margin, piling up 130 rushing yards on 10 attempts \u2014 a 13.0 per-carry clip.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t all bad:<\/p>\n

THE ATMOSPHERE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cal wanted a sellout and got it, its first since the 2024 Big Game vs. Stanford.<\/p>\n

\u201cShout out to our fans,\u201d said linebacker Kamar Mothudi a transfer from Oregon. \u201cIt was amazing. It was electric. I was truly honored and blessed to play in that environment. It was so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

SECOND-HALF START<\/strong><\/p>\n

After allowing 302 yards and 24 points in the first half, the Cal defense forced UCLA to punt on its first three possessions of the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defense coming out in the third quarter on fire was just awesome,\u201d Lupoi said.<\/p>\n

NEWCOMERS SHOW UP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Running back Adam Mohammed, a transfer from Washington, racked up a career-high 120 rushing yards with a touchdown and caught seven passes for 46 yards. Transfer receivers Chase Hendricks (six catches, 66 yards and a touchdown) and Strong (five catches, 94 yards) were productive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankful to have those guys,\u201d Lupoi said. \u201cThey rip it every day, work their butts off. Leaving that locker room and seeing the hunger in those guys fires me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEXT UP<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cal visits Syracuse, which opened with a 63-3 rout of overmatched New Hampshire. The Orange has a 2-1 all-time edge vs. Cal, including a 33-25 victory at Berkeley in 2024 in their most recent matchup.<\/p>\n

Read more SF Giants bullpen wastes Perdomo\u2019s scoreless gem in loss to Mets<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a new head coach and two first-time coordinators, the Bears wilted in the second half as turnovers and a failure to stop the run undid the hype they’d experienced this preseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nCal’s deflating loss to UCLA: 3 things that doomed Bears, and 3 that provide hope - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8595\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cal’s deflating loss to UCLA: 3 things that doomed Bears, and 3 that provide hope - 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