Cal’s quarterback picture only got murkier Saturday, and that’s saying something for a situation that already looked upside down.
Jackson Brousseau got the start against Wake Forest even though Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was available to play. Sagapolutele didn’t just dress - he entered in the third quarter with Cal already buried, trailing 41-0.
By then, the damage was done. The Bears were on their way to a 41-7 loss, one that dropped them to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the ACC after a 34-0 halftime deficit.
Brousseau said he was informed on Monday, two days after Cal’s win over Virginia Tech, that he would be the starter. That decision may have made sense on some level.
Cal could have wanted to lock in its game plan early around one quarterback. Sagapolutele was listed as questionable through most of the week, and it wasn’t until Friday that it became clear he would be available.
There’s also the possibility that head coach Tosh Lupoi was being careful with Sagapolutele after concussion concerns and the fact that he had not played since being knocked out of the Oct. 3 game against UNLV in the second quarter.
Lupoi didn’t frame it that way after the loss, though.
“I think Jackson sparked us obviously and led us to a huge win last week and earned that right,” Lupoi said of his decision start Brousseau, who was instrumental in Cal’s 25-20 upset of Virginia Tech the previous week. “And as Jaron restored his health, became available here, that [Sagapolutele replacing Brousseau in the third quarter] wasn’t any negative reflection as far as Jackson.
“Going to go in, watch the film, see exactly where we went wrong, where we went right but that was the first opportunity for Jaron to play under Pat [McCann] calling the plays, so that’s why I put him in there.”
That left Sagapolutele in the backup role, at least for this game.
The comparison is awkward, because Brousseau’s three halves of work have actually been better than Sagapolutele’s first four and a half games. But those Brousseau snaps also came with Pat McCann calling the plays for the first time, which makes the picture even harder to read.
Sagapolutele’s long-term reputation still looms over the whole debate. He’s viewed as a serious pro prospect, with a projection as a first-round pick in the 2028 NFL draft.
His early-season play may have cooled that buzz, but his arm talent remains part of the conversation. Cal is paying him $3 million in NIL deals, according to an August report by the San Francisco Standard, and he had been billed as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in 2026 after a standout true freshman season in 2025.
Even so, Lupoi took a real risk by starting Brousseau, and it didn’t pay off.
Cal also walked into a matchup that demanded production through the air. Wake Forest’s pass defense has been a weakness, even after handling Cal’s passing game.
The Demon Deacons rank 98th nationally and 12th in the ACC in pass defense, and 86th nationally and 12th in the ACC in passer rating defense. The pass-defense number is influenced by opponents throwing more often because Wake Forest’s run defense has been so strong and because the Demon Deacons have played with leads, but the passer rating figure still stands on its own.
That made Cal’s quarterback choice even more important. Brousseau finished with just 81 passing yards in nearly three quarters.
Sagapolutele’s line was cleaner: 15-for-18 for 110 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. But those numbers came after Wake Forest had the game well in hand and was leaning on backups and a looser, less aggressive defense.
Now the obvious question is what happens next.
Cal goes to SMU next Saturday morning to face a 5-1 team that is ranked 23rd and hasn’t lost a conference home game since joining the ACC with Cal and Stanford before the 2024 season. Sagapolutele seems the likeliest candidate to reclaim the starting job, though that was supposed to be true against Wake Forest too once he came off the injured list shortly before kickoff. Lupoi wouldn’t commit afterward.
“Going to assess,” Lupoi said. “I think both of the guys did a good job at times, so going to assess, do my very best at all positions to get our players we feel like are going to put us in position to win.
So once again I was not taking out Jackson as a negative reflection of his performance. More so just to try to give our team a spark, go with Jaron and give him an opportunity to execute the offense under coach Pat.”
For now, Cal’s quarterback question is still wide open.
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