Cal wasted no time turning Saturday afternoon into a rout, burying Wagner 49-7 in front of 35,586 at California Memorial Stadium.
The Bears needed only a few snaps to seize control. On the opening possession, Cal marched 75 yards and Adam Mohammed finished it off with a 28-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 11:59 left in the first quarter. That was just the beginning of a first quarter that got out of hand in a hurry.
Mohammed struck again on a 6-yard run to make it 14-0, then Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele hit Kyion Grayes on an 80-yard touchdown pass that helped stretch the margin to 22-0 after a two-point conversion. Before the quarter ended, Sagapolutele found Mohammed again, this time for a 65-yard touchdown that pushed Cal ahead 29-0 with 1:42 remaining in the opening frame.
By then, the numbers were already lopsided. With 1:42 left in the first quarter, Cal had 305 yards of offense and Wagner had 13. The Bears finished with 626 total yards, falling well short of the school record of 760 set in 2015 against Oregon State, but still piling up offense at a dizzying pace.
Sagapolutele was the engine behind it all. He completed 27 of 33 passes for a career-high 413 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, good for a 216.9 passer rating.
He played only 2 1/2 quarters. In the first quarter alone, he went 13-for-14 for 236 yards, which was 54 more passing yards than he had in the entire game against Syracuse.
Mohammed’s day was just as electric. His three touchdowns in the first quarter tied his career high for touchdowns in a game, something he had previously done while playing for Washington.
Cal kept adding on after Wagner finally got on the board. Ben Newman connected with Malik Redo on an 8-yard touchdown pass to cut it to 29-7 with 11:30 left in the second quarter. The Bears answered with a 36-yard field goal from Towns McGough, then Sagapolutele threw a 16-yard touchdown to Cooper Perry to make it 39-7 at 4:08 before halftime.
The first half ended with Cal sitting on 39 points, its highest first-half output since scoring 52 before halftime against Grambling State in 2015.
The Bears never let the game drift after that. Ashten Emory added an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to make it 46-7, and Chase Meyer closed the scoring with a 37-yard field goal late in the fourth.
Chase Hendricks was another steady piece of the offense, finishing with nine catches for 98 yards. Jackson Brousseau also got work at quarterback and went 8-for-10 for 75 yards. Wagner’s Newman finished 15-for-36 for 86 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while Jason Wiley Jr. went 0-for-1.
On defense, Kingston Lopa kept his interception streak rolling with his fifth pick of the season. His four interceptions entering the game had led the nation.
The result moved Cal to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, while Wagner fell to 1-3 and 0-1 in the Northeast Conference. It also extended Cal’s run against FCS opponents to 18-0 dating back to 2005. Wagner dropped to 0-23 against FBS teams.
The Bears are now 18-0 against FCS schools dating back to 2005, while Wagner is 0-23 against FBS teams.
Saturday’s win also left Cal’s broader outlook unchanged. Its bowl chances remained at 60%, and the Bears still need four wins in their final nine games to become eligible for the fourth straight season. Their title chances remain at about 25%, though this one does little on that front beyond possibly providing momentum for Friday’s home game against Clemson.
Clemson is coming off a 28-20 win over North Carolina after trailing 17-3 in its ACC opener. Freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds made his first career start in that game and finished 20-of-29 for 215 yards, one touchdown and one interception, along with 26 rushing yards.
In Other News...
Cal Has A Chance To Fix One Concern Before Clemson Looms
After opening ACC play with a win at Syracuse, Cal comes home this week to face Wagner with a chance to tighten a few things up before Clemson appears on the schedule. The Bears have been boosted by sophomore safety Kingston Lopa, whose ball production has stood out early, and by running back Adam Mohammed, who has emerged as one of the leagues more productive rushers.
Wagner, an FCS program from Staten Island, arrives after a heavy loss to James Madison and has not beaten a Power 4 opponent. Redshirt freshman quarterback Benjamin Newman leads the Seahawks offense, but for Cal the bigger question is whether this game can serve as a clean tune-up while the Bears continue sorting out the pieces around their next stretch of conference play. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Showed Off A Dangerous New Edge In Blowout Win
Cal left little doubt in its blowout win over Wagner, leaning on a physical edge and an offense that kept finding answers all game. Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele helped direct the attack, Adam Mohammed found the end zone multiple times, and the Bears kept stacking scoring drives while Wagner had trouble sustaining anything of its own.
The big-play element also showed up in a hurry, with Cal stretching the field and turning one explosive moment into a wider avalanche. Wagner did manage to score once, but most of the afternoon belonged to a Bears team that looked faster, stronger, and much harder to handle than the opposition, a promising sign for a group trying to prove it can bring more than just efficiency on offense. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Pulled Off A Syracuse Win That Makes No Sense
Cals win at Syracuse was the kind of result that leaves the box score looking upside down. Syracuse outplayed the Bears in most of the familiar categories, but Cal kept finding a way to stay alive because the defense kept swinging the game back in its direction. Kingston Lopa was at the center of it, turning in one of the best defensive showings Cal has had in recent memory and changing the feel of the afternoon with every takeaway.
The odd part is how little the broader performance seemed to matter once the turnovers started piling up. By the usual in-game metrics, this was a victory that barely made sense, one of those results the models would not have liked for Cal without the hidden value created on defense. Lopas impact was so large that it moved the Bears from being outplayed to being the team with the better path to the finish, which is why the game will be remembered less for how it looked and more for how it ended. [Read more 🡒]