Cal showed just enough early life in Dallas to make the first half feel like a reset. It didn’t last.
The Bears opened against No. 23 SMU with energy, creativity and a returning quarterback in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, but the game flipped hard after halftime.
Cal led 20-17 at the break at Gerald J. Ford Stadium, only to watch the Mustangs pile up 42 straight points in a 59-20 blowout.
“I’m going to figure (out what went wrong),” Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi said in the postgame press conference. “We can’t just win one half … it’s a little bit alarming when we see games get away like this.”
The first half had a little bit of everything Cal had been missing. The defense opened by forcing a 3-and-out, and Sagapolutele quickly found Ian Strong on a 36-yard throw while rolling to his right. That set up the Bears’ first touchdown, a 10-yard screen-pass score to Chase Hendricks with offensive lineman Frederick Williams III lined up in the receiver trips formation to help spring the play.
Cal kept the pressure on defensively, and SMU had to settle for a field goal. But the Bears’ offense bogged down on the next series after penalties slowed it down, and the Mustangs answered with a touchdown run from former Cal back Kendrick Raphael to go up 10-7.
Then came the strange, clever, and very Cal sequence that briefly turned the game on its head. National interception leader and usual defensive back Kingston Lopa made his first collegiate catch, and linebacker AJ Tuitele even got an offensive snap while blocking for him. Lupoi said the idea was all about sparking something.
“(We wanted to) play aggressive, generate ways (to succeed), put some defensive players on offense, do everything we can to generate a spark,” Lupoi said. “We got that in the first half and failed to do so in the second half.”
The Bears kept leaning into the trickery. When a field goal try came up, Cal used third-string quarterback Dominic Ingrassia as the holder and ran a fake to extend the drive. Later, tight end Mason Mini lined up at quarterback in the red zone, took the direct snap and powered in for a touchdown that put Cal ahead 14-10.
SMU responded, but Cal still found enough offense to stay in front. The Bears picked up another field goal from Towns McGough, who hit a new collegiate long of 41 yards, and then put together a two-minute drill before halftime to set up one more McGough kick as time expired. Despite eight penalties for 75 yards, Cal carried a 20-17 lead into the locker room.
The second half belonged entirely to SMU.
Cal opened with a 3-and-out, helped along by another failed third-and-long screen pass, and the Mustangs answered with a rushing touchdown from Christian Rhodes. The Bears went right back out and immediately went 3-and-out again, losing 5 yards, before SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings set the Mustang record for career passing touchdowns with a 21-yard strike to Derrick McFall that pushed the lead to 31-20.
Cal’s next possession unraveled too, with running back Ashten Emory leaving briefly with an injury and defensive back Niles Davis taking a first-down carry as the Bears went 3-and-out for the third straight time. Rhodes punched in another rushing score soon after, SMU’s third touchdown in 11 minutes, and the game was effectively done at 38-20.
The Mustangs added three more touchdowns before the night was over.
For Cal, the loss marked another brutal turn in a season that has slipped further out of control. Sagapolutele, though, pointed to a steadier message after the game.
“God never promised there wouldn’t be a storm, he promised that he’d be with you the whole way through it,” Sagapolutele said in the postgame press conference. “So, right now, we’re in a bit of a storm, but I think if we continue to trust in God, trust in each other, we’re going to get through that storm.”
The Bears will try to stop the slide next weekend against NC State on Oct. 31 at 9 a.m. in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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