Despite Cal’s 3-6 record and a three-game skid, one Bears defender keeps showing up at the top of the numbers: safety Kingston Lopa.
Pro Football Focus has been especially fond of him, and the grades back up the eye test. Lopa was Cal’s best performer in the 31-10 loss to North Carolina State on Saturday, posting an 83.7 grade. No other Bears player who logged more than 25 snaps cracked 71.7, and the top offensive grade on the day belonged to third-string running back Anthony League at 68.9 after 27 snaps, roughly a third of Cal’s offensive workload.
The season-long picture is even stronger. Lopa’s 85.8 overall grade ranks eighth among safeties nationally, and no other Cal player is inside the top 100 at his position. His work in coverage has been even more striking: a 91.1 grade against the pass, the best mark in the country among defensive backs.
The production has come with playmaking to match. Lopa is tied for the national lead with five interceptions, and against NC State he nearly added a sixth three different times. He’s also piled up 30 solo tackles, just two behind team leader Isaiah Crosby, even though Lopa has already missed two games because of a concussion.
He also delivered Cal’s most dramatic individual performance of the season in the 21-18 win over Syracuse, when he picked off three passes, returned one for a touchdown, and made each interception at a critical moment.
At 6-foot-5, Lopa brings a rare frame to the safety spot, and his size only adds to the rest of his game. He has a knack for reading quarterbacks, jumping routes, and finding himself in the right place before the ball gets there. Cal also moves him around behind the defensive line, using him in multiple spots to maximize his chance to create turnovers.
On the other side of the ball, quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s PFF numbers tell a much rougher story. His 52.7 grade against NC State was his lowest of the year, and his 71.7 season grade leaves him tied for 149th among quarterbacks nationally.
The issues around him are obvious enough: no real running-game threat and an offensive line that has struggled. But those same problems were there last year, when he put together a breakout freshman season.
The biggest difference then was Jacob De Jesus, who set a Cal single-season record with 108 catches, finishing one behind national leader Malachi Toney, who played three more games than De Jesus.
This season, Chase Hendrick has been the Bears’ most dependable receiver. His 61 catches rank fourth in the ACC and 12th in the nation.
What makes Sagapolutele’s season harder to pin down is that his passer rating is actually slightly better this year, at 132.34, than it was last season, when he finished at 131.61. That stat usually tracks quarterback performance pretty cleanly, and the national leaders - Miami’s Darian Mensah and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin - fit the top of the list.
Still, the feeling remains that Sagapolutele was more effective a year ago. He closed the 2025 season on a strong run, throwing seven touchdown passes without an interception over the final four games. With Cal on a bye and three games left after that, the Bears will be hoping he can find a similar finish this season.
In Other News...
Cals New-Look Offense Just Delivered A Reason To Believe
Californias season opener against Adams State offered an immediate glimpse of what this revamped offense might look like when it clicks. The Bears rolled to a 115-86 win while shooting 60.6 percent from the floor, their best offensive showing since 2020, and the production came from all over the lineup. Twelve different players scored, five reached double figures, and sophomore Michael Cooper set the tone with 24 points and a career-high six 3-pointers.
For a program looking to establish a sharper, more balanced attack, the opener checked a lot of boxes at once. Cal did it with pace, spacing and depth, and the scoring distribution suggested this was more than a one-man burst. The bigger question now is whether the Bears can carry that kind of efficiency into tougher competition, where the same looks may not come as easily. [Read more 🡒]