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Ex-Cal QB Chandler Rogers Leads Louisville to UFL Title Game

Rogers was Fernando Mendoza's backup at Cal but has been the best QB in the United Football League recently
Jake Curtis|
Chandler Rogers
Chandler Rogers | Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Chandler Rogers never got a chance at Cal, where he played behind Fernando Mendoza, who won a Heisman Trophy a year later and became the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL.

But Rogers has reached professional stardom before Mendoza. Rogers is now 6-1 as the starting quarterback of the Louisville Kings of the United Football League, and on Sunday he led the Kings to a berth in the UFL title game by spearheading the Kings' 29-20 victory over the St. Louis Battlehawks in the semifinals in St. Louis.

Rogers will try to lead the Kings to the UFL title next Saturday when Louisville faces the DC Defenders in Washington, D.C., in the UFL championship game.

Chandler Rogers celebrates the victory:

The Kings started the season 1-3 before Rogers became their starting quarterback. He turned things around for the Kings, who are now riding a five-game winning streak. Jon Gruden is certainly impressed by what Rogers has done (video below) to push the Kings into the four-team UFL playoffs

On Sunday, Rogers was 12-for-20 for 162 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 102.5 passer rating.

His two most important passes came on the same drive in the third quarter.

With the Kings trailing 17-11 and facing a third-and-4 from the Louisville 34-yard line, Rogers completed a 4-yard pass to Isaiah Winstead, who raced another 50 yards to complete a 54-yard play that put the ball at the 11-yard line.

Two plays later, Rogers completed 9-yard touchdown pass to Winstead to put the Kings ahead.

Rogers had another key play in the fourth quarter, this time with his feet. The Kings held a 25-20 lead, when the Kings faced a third-and-19 from their own 42-yard line. Unable to find a receiver Rogers scrambled 13 yards to the St. Louis 45-yard line. It was just enough to enable Louisville kicker Tanner Brown to boot a 63-yard field goal, which counted four points and pushed the lead to 29-20 with 4:41 to go.

The Kings clinched the victory when Steele Chambers intercepted a Luis Perez pass in the end zone with 32 seconds left.

Rogers' current stardom is very different from Rogers' status in his final college season at Cal. Rogers transferred to Cal from North Texas to Cal before his senior season with idea that he would compete with Mendoza for the starting job in 2024. Mendoza won the starting job in a close competition, and never gave coach Justin Wilcox a reason to replace him.

Rogers played only when the outcome was already decided and a few plays when Mendoza left briefly because of injuries. He played in eight games in 2024 and attempted 12 passes, compleing eight of them for 117 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.

That was Rogers' final college season, while Mendoza moved on to Indiana, winning the national championship and the Heisman Trophy in 2025 and being the No. 1 overall pick by the Raiders in the NFL draft.

However, Rogers has a chance for a championship in a professional football leage next Saturday, and Mendoza will have trouble matching that in 2026.

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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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