Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Lose to UCLA in Opener

A sellout crowd of 54,283 was on hand at Cal's Memorial Stadium Saturday night to see the Bears lose to UCLA 45-24 in Tosh Lupoi's first game as Cal's head coach. It was Cal's first home sellout since its game against Stanford in 2024.

The summary:

UCLA 45, CAL 24

RECORDS: CAL (0-1, 0-0 ACC), UCLA (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: UCLA defensive back Ta'Shawn James. James had eight tackles and one quarterback hurry, and his two fourth-quarter interceptions turned the game in UCLA's favor, leading to two touchdowns.

TURNING POINT: With the score tied 24-24, Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw a pass that went off the hands of intended receiver Ian Strong and was intercepted by UCLA's Ta'Shawn James at the 50-yard line and returned 19 yards to the Cal 31 with 8:53 left in the fourth quarter. UCLA scored the go-ahead touchdown on the next play, a 31-yard run by Wayne Knight.

KEY PLAY 1: Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Chase Hendricks to complete a 75-yard drive that gave Cal a 7-0 lead with 10:28 left in the first quarter. The critical play on the drive was a 26-yard completion to Mason Mini on a third-and-9 play from the Cal 38-yard line.

KEY PLAY 2: UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava ran 9 yards for a touchdown to complete a 71-yard drive and tie the score 7-7 with 7:00 left in the first quarter. On the play preceding the touchdown, Iamaleava completed a 22-yard pass to Wayne Knight.

KEY PLAY 3: Cal’s Towns McGough kicked a 28-yard field goal to give the Bears a 10-7 lead with 12:46 remaining in the second quarter. Cal failed to score a touchdown on that drive after getting a first down at the UCLA 7-yard line.

KEY PLAY 4: UCLA’s Anthony Woods scored a touchdown on a 31-yard run to complete a 75-yard drive and give the Bruins a 14-10 lead with 10:19 left in the second quarter.

KEY PLAY 5: UCLA’s Wayne Knight scored a touchdown on an 8-yard run to increase UCLA’s lead to 21-10 with 3:23 remaining in the first half. The critical play on that drive was a 20-yard completion from Iamaleava to Landon Ellis on a third-and-13 play from the Cal 46-yard line.

KEY PLAY 6: On first-down Cal play from the Cal 41-yard line, Sagapolutele was sacked by Sammy Omosigho, forcing a fumble that was recovered by UCLA’s Amier Washington at the Cal 37-yard line.

KEY PLAY 7: On UCLA’s first-down play from the Cal 17, Cal’s Kingston Lopa intercepted an Iamaleava pass at the Cal 13-yard line.

KEY PLAY 8: On a third-and-9 play from the Cal 13-yard line that started with 38 seconds left in the first half, Sagapolutele scrambled and completed a 49-yard pass to Ian Strong, putting the ball at the UCLA 38-yard line with 26 seconds to go. That was followed by a 30-yard completion to Chase Hendricks and an 8-yard touchdown pass to Mason Mini with 13 seconds left in the half, reducing UCLA’s lead to 21-17. Sagapolutele was seen limping after the touchdown pass.

KEY PLAY 9: On a UCLA play that started with 13 seconds left in the half, Iamaleava completed a 43-yard pass to Mikey Matthews, putting the ball at the Cal 20 with six seconds remaining. Mateen Bhaghani kicked a 38-yard field goal to increase UCLA’s lead to 24-17 with three seconds remaining.

KEY PLAY 10: Cal linebacker AJ Tuitele was penalized for targeting and ejected 12 seconds into the third quarter. He will be eligible to play in next week’s game against Syracuse.

KEY PLAY 11: On a Cal third-and-4 play from the Bears’ 23-yard line, Adam Mohammed ran 20 yards for a first down at the 3-yard line. Following a UCLA penalty, Mohammed ran 1 yard for a Cal touchdown that tied the score 24-24 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

KEY PLAY 12: On a Cal third-and-8 play from the Bears' 18-yard line, Sagapolutele's pass went off the hands of intended receiver Ian Strong and was intercepted by Ta'Shawn James at the 50-yard line and returned 19 yards to the Cal 31 with 8:53 remaining in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 13: On the first play after the interception, UCLA's Wayne Knight scored a touchdown on a 31-yard run that put UCLA ahead 31-24.

KEY PLAY 14: UCLA's Ta'Shawn James intercepted his second pass of the game, picking off Sagapolutele at the Cal 46-yard line with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 15: UCLA's Wayne Knight scored a touchdown on a 4-yard run that put the Bruins ahead 38-24 with 2:58 remaining in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 16: UCLA's Anthony Woods scored a touchdown on a 53-yard run that increased the Bruins' lead to 45-24 with 1:17 remaining.

STAT OF THE GAME: UCLA gained 304 yards in the first half, but the Bruins netted just 16 yards in their first three series of the second half enabled Cal to tie the game.

STAT OF THE GAME II: Cal committed three turnovers, and UCLA committed just one.

STAT OF THE GAME III: Cal was 0-for-3 on fourth down.

STAT OF THE GAME IV: UCLA's top three running backs rushed for 230 yards on 21 carries, an average of 10.5 yards per carry, while Cal's top three running backs ran for 140 yards on 33 carries, an average of 4.3 yards per carry.

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME: Cal running back Adam Mohammed rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown and caught seven passes for 46 yards. His other career 100-yard game also came against UCLA while he was playing for Washington.

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME II: UCLA running back Wayne Knight had just eight carries but averaged 8.9 yards per attempt and scored three touchdowns. He finished with 71 rushing yards and 20 receiving yards. UCLA running back also rushed just eight times for 118 yards, a 14.8 yards-per-carry average and scored two touchdowns.

QUARTERBACK STATISTICS: Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was 24-for-41 for 271 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava was 14-for-22 for 184 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Tosh Lupoi era got off to a disappointing start as Cal lost its opener for the first time since 2021, when it was defeated by Nevada. More importantly, the Bears lost a game that was considered a virtual tossup and was deemed pivotal for their 2026 season. It’s too early in the season to read too much into Saturday’s result, though. Unlike most recent Cal openers, which were against overmatched opponents, UCLA is a Big Ten team with high hopes under new head coach Bob Chesney. Cal needs to win next week’s road game against Syracuse to avoid an 0-2 start when a 2-0 start seemed possible in preseason calculations.

CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: With Saturday’s loss, Cal’s bowl chances dropped to about 50%. The game against UCLA was considered pivotal in determining Cal’s postseason possibilities, and now the Bears need to win six of their remaining 11 games to become bowl-eligible for the fourth straight year. Next Saturday’s game against Syracuse now becomes critical for Cal’s postseason hopes.

CAL’S ACC TITLE BAROMETER: Cal’s title chances stand at about 15% after being picked to finish 12th in the ACC in the preseason poll. Although Saturday’s loss to a nonconference opponent had no actual effect on Cal’s ACC chances, the Bears’ performance against a team picked to finish 13th in the Big Ten prevents the Bears from being considered an ACC title contender as of now. Cal’s next Saturday’s game at Syracuse will provide a better indication.

CAL'S NEXT GAME

Cal (0-1, 0-0 ACC) vs. Syracuse (1-0, 0-0 ACC) at JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., on Saturday, September 12. Starting time: 12:30 p.m. Pacific time (3:30 p.m. Syracuse time). TV: ACC Network. Most recent Syracuse result: Syracuse defeated FCS school New Hampshire 66-3 on Saturday in Syracuse. The Orange led that game 41-0 at halftime.

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