Cal Football Player Grades Following Loss to Clemson

Pro Football Focus' metrics, which grade every player on every play, tend to confirm what we already suspected. And that was the case for PFF's Cal grades following Cal's 24-10 loss to Clemson on Friday.

For the season as a whole, safety Kingston Lopa is the only Cal player who ranks among the nation's top 75 players at his position, but Lopa is among the elite safeties based on PFF's grades. His 89.0 overall grade for the first four games makes him the No. 3-ranked safety in the country, and his 90.8 grade for pass coverage is the best for all defensive backs (safeties and cornerbacks) in the country.

He did not get any interceptions against Clemson, but his five interceptions for the season still lead the nation, with no one else having more than three. Lopa also leads Cal in tackles with 27 after recording 11 stops against Clemson. His grade of 68.5 for the Clemson game only ranked fifth among Cal defenders in that game, though.

Given Cal's poor performance offensively against Clemson, it is probably no surprise that the top four PFF grades for Cal players in that game all belonged to defensive players, and three of the top four were defensive backs. The top graded player was outside linebacker Kamar Mothudi, with defensive backs Isaiah Crosby, Aiden Manutai and Ricky Fletcher ranking second through fourth, respectively.

The Bears' defense yielded just 17 points to Clemson, and that is often good enough to win an ACC game, but the Bears' offense did not score a touchdown, and Cal's special teams yielded a 65-punt return for a Clemson touchdown. The Cal defense even scored the team's only touchdown against the Tigers.

The Bears had just 231 yards of total offense against Clemson, which was their fewest yards in a game since 2022. Cal (2-2) hopes its offense bounces back in Saturday's road game against UNLV (2-2).

Quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele had a tough day against Clemson, passing for a career-low 119 yards, with two interceptions and no touchdown passes. His PFF grade of 54.9 for that game ranked 13th of the 15 ACC starting quarterbacks who played this past weekend. Ranking last among the ACC quarterbacks was Clemson's Tait Reynolds, and that is a tribute to Cal's defensive backs.

Sagapolutele's season grade of 75.3 through four games ranks 101st in the country and 10th in the ACC among quarterbacks. He received a 79.4 PFF grade for his entire 2025 season, which is only marginally better than his current 2026 grade, and he was PFF's highest rated true freshman quarterback in the nation last year.

Of interest was the breakdown of Cal's passing efficiency against Clemson based on the distances of the throws. On passes of 10 to 19 yards, Sagapolutele completed 1-of-4 passes, and he was 0-for-5 on passes of 20 yards or more, including his two interceptions. He was 8-for-8 on passes behind the line of scrimmage and 7-for-9 on throws between 1 and 9 yards.

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