Cal Sports Report

Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Beat Oregon State in Opener

Cal freshman QB Jaron-Keawe has an outstanding debut as the Bears take control early and roll to a victory in Corvallis, Oregon
Jake Curtis|
Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele | Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

An outstanding college debut by Cal true freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele helped Cal beat Oregon State 34-15 in the season opener for both teams Saturday night in Corvallis, Oregon.

The 18-year-old Sagapolutele completed his first nine pass attempts, and two of those nine completions were touchdown passes. He finished 20-for-30 for 234 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Three or four of his incompletions were passes that could have been caught.

 The summary:

CAL 34, OREGON STATE 15.

RECORDS: CAL (1-0), OREGON STATE (0-1)

PLAYER OF THE GAME:  Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. Just the second true freshman quarterback to start a season-opener for Cal, and the first Bears' freshman quarterback to make his his debut on the road, Sagapolutele exceeded all expectations with an outstanding start that put the Bears ahead early.

TURNING POINT:  On Cal's first possession of the game, the Bears punted on a fourth-and-1 play from its own 36-yard line. But Oregon State was penalized on the play for having too many men on the field, giving Cal a first down at its 41-yard line. The Bears turned that possession into a touchdown, putting Cal ahead 7-0 early in the first quarter. Cal controlled the game from there.

KEY PLAY 1: On fourth-and-1 from its own 36-yard line, Cal punted, but the Beavers were penalized for too many men on the field, giving Cal a first down at the 41-yard line.  Cal turned that possession into a touchdown as noted in the next two Key Plays.

KEY PLAY 2: On his first pass as a college player, Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed a 35-yard pass to Trond Grizzell, putting the ball on the Oregon State 24-yard line.

KEY PLAY 3: On a third-and 5 play Sagapolutele completed a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mason Mini, giving Cal a 7-0 lead with 11:32 left in the first quarter on Cal’s first possession.

KEY PLAY 4: Sagapolutele threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Trond Grizzell, giving Cal a 14-0 lead with 7:46 left in the first quarter. At this point, Sagapolutele is 6-for-6 for 125 yards, two touchdowns and a 385 passer rating.

KEY PLAY 5: Oregon State quarterback Maalik Murphy threw an incompletion on a fourth-and-4 play from the Cal 38-yard line with 5:04 left in the first quarter, giving Cal the ball.

KEY PLAY 6: Oregon State’s Caleb Ojeda kicked a 53-yard field goal, reducing Cal’s lead to 14-3 with 9:29 left in the second quarter.

KEY PLAY 7: Cal’s Abram Murray kicked a 49-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to give Cal a 17-3 lead at the break. It was set up by a 25-yard scramble by Sagapolutele.

KEY PLAY 8:  Sagapolutele threw a 35-yard completion to Mark Hamper, putting the ball at the Oregon State 3-yard line. Two plays later Sagapolutele threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Landon Morris, giving Cal a 24-7 lead with 11:37 remaining in the third quarter.

KEY PLAY 9: One play after an interception in the end zone by Cal's Hezekiah Masses was negated by a pass interference call on Masses, Oregon State's Anthony Hankerson scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run with 4:16 left in the third quarter. A two-point try failed, leaving Cal with a 24-9 lead.

KEY PLAY 10: Cal defensive back Hezekiah Masses intercepted a Maalik Murphy pass and returned it 42 yards to the Oregon State 2-yard line. On the next play Bears running back Brandon High Jr. scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run, putting Cal ahead 31-9 with 12:02 left in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 11:  Oregon State quarterback Maalik Murphy ran 3 yards for a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play from the 3-yard line to cut the Cal lead to 31-15 with 8:16 left in the fourth quarter. A two-point try failed.

STAT OF THE GAME:  Zero. Cal committed no turnovers and allowed no quarterback sacks. Meanwhile, Oregon State turned the ball over twice and allowed one sack.

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME:  Cal freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed the first nine passes of his college career, and two of those nine completions went for touchdowns on Cal's first two possessions.

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME II: Oregon State running back Anthony Hankerson, who rushed for 1,082 yards last season, was limited to 42 yards on 15 carries, an average of 2.8 yards per carry..

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME III: Oregon State wide receiver Trent Walker. had nine receptions for 136 yards.

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME IV: Cal wide receiver Jacob De Jesus had 177 all-purpose yards, including 73 yards in punt returns.

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME V: Cal linebacker Cade Uluave had 10 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback hurry

QUARTERBACK STATISTICS: Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was 20-for-30 for 234 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions; Oregon State quarterback Maalik Murphy was 21-for-33 for 244 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.

WHAT IT MEANS: This game was considered a virtual tossup, and winning this game gives Cal a great boost to start the season as it works toward its first winning season since 2019. The fact that freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele had an outstanding game provides more optimism.

CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: Cal has about a 65% chance of earning a bowl berth after winning this pivotal game. The Bears open with four nonconference games, and they have a shot at starting 4-0, although they might be an underdog to Minnesota on September 13 in Berkeley. The Bears need just five more wins to become bowl eligible, but they are shooting for more than a 6-6 regular-season after Saturday's showing.

NEXT GAME: Cal (1-0) vs. Texas Southern (0-1) at Cal’s Memorial Stadium in Berkeley on Saturday, September 6. Kickoff: 3 p.m. TV: ACC Network Extra. Texas Southern, an FCS school, lost to Prairie View A&M 22-21 in its opener on Saturday. Prairie View scored the winning touchdown on the final play of the game.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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