Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, Kendrick Raphael Win ACC Weekly Awards

Cal freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was named the ACC quarterback of the week on Monday, and it’s the second time in the Bears’ last three games he has earned that award.

Three weeks ago, he was honored for his performance in the upset of then-No. 15 Louisville, and this week he was selected for his performance in the Golden Bears’ 38-35 upset of No. 21 SMU on Saturday.

.---UPDATE: Sagapolutele was named the Davey O'Brien national quarterback of the week on Tuesday---

Sagapolutele was also named the ACC rookie of the week for the fourth time this season.

Also, Cal’s Kendrick Raphael was named ACC running back of the week for his performance against SMU. Raphael had a career-high 33 rushes for 111 yards and scored the game-winning touchdown with 43 seconds left in the win over SMU. It was the third time this season that Raphael had run for more than 100 yards in a game.

Raphael’s touchdown was his 12th of the season, which ranks ninth on Cal’s alltime single-season list. He leads the ACC in carries with 215.

Sagapolutele collected a pair of national awards for his work against SMU. He was one of eight quarterbacks across the nation named to the Davey O'Brien Great 8, earning that honor for the second time in three games, and was awarded a Manning Award Star of the Week.

Against SMU, Sagapolutele completed 31 of 40 passes for 330 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, and his most impressive work came in Cal’s game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter.

After SMU had taken a 35-31 lead with 2:22 remaining in the game, Sagapolutele directed a 75-yard trouchdown drive that put Cal ahead with 43 seconds left. Sagapolutele was 5-for-5 for 61 yards on that drive.

For the season, Sagapolutele has completed 63.6% of his passes for 3,117 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Over the past six games he has thrown eight touchdown passes with two interceptions, and did not throw any interceptions in five of those six games.

His 3,117 passing yards rank sixth on Cal’s alltime single-season passing list, and Sagapolutele has a bowl game remaining. Three of the Bears' five single-season marks ahead of Sagapolutele belong to Jared Goff, and Davis Webb and Pat Barnes occupy the two other spot. Goff and Webb both played in Sonny Dykes’ pass-oriented offense.

Sagapolutele’s play helped Cal (7-5) assure itself of a winning record for the first time since 2019, and he led Cal to a 4-4 record in ACC play, ending a run of 15 consecutive season in which the Bears finished with a losing conference mark.

Cal is hoping Sagapolutele will earn Freshman All-America honors.

Cal is in the process of looking for a new head coach after Justin Wilcox was fired last week. Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi is viewed as the top candidate for Cal’s head coaching vacancy.

The Bears are awaiting word on which bowl they will go to and which team will be their opponent.

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