Cal Sports Report

Game Summary of Cal's Loss to Virginia Tech in 2 OTs

Cal fails to get the sixth win needed for bowl eligibility as the Bears' defense could not stop Virginia Tech's running game
Jake Curtis|
Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele
Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

In this story:

California Golden Bears

Cal lost to Virginia Tech 42-34 in two overtimes on Friday night in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The summary:

VIRGINIA TECH 42, CAL 34 (2 OTs)

RECORDS: CAL (5-3, 2-2 ACC), VIRGINIA TECH (3-5, 2-2 ACC)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Virgina Tech quarterback Kyron Drones. Drones threw for 119 yards, three touchdowns and one interceptions, and he ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns. And he converted a two-point conversion with a run in the second overtime.

TURNING POINT: Virginia Tech scored a touchown and a two-point coversion in the second overtime, and Cal failed to score on its possession of the second overtime. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw an incompletion on fourth-and-10 from the 25 to end the game.

CAL PLAYER AVAILABILITY: The Bears were without running backs LJ Johnson Jr. and Brandon High Jr., Cal’s second- and third-leading rushers.

KEY PLAY 1: Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Ayden Greene, giving Virginia Tech a 7-0 lead with 12:04 left in the first quarter. The Hokies started that scoring drive at the Cal 47-yard line following a Bears punt.

KEY PLAY 2: Virginia Tech kicker John Love kicked a 46-yard field goal to give the Hokies a 10-0 lead with 7:27 remaining in the first quarter. It completed a nine-play, 46-yard drive.

KEY PLAY 3: Cal’s Chase Meyer kicked a 38-yard field goal to reduce the Virginia Tech lead to 10-3 with 2:22 left in the first quarter. Three Cal penalties on that possession hurt the Bears’ chances for a touchdown.

KEY PLAY 4: Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed a 38-yard pass to Jordan King, moving the ball to the Virginia Tech 12-yard line. Three plays later Kendrick Raphael scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run to tie the game 10-10 with 14:36 left in the second quarter.

KEY PLAY 5: On a third-and-8 play from the 50-yard line, Sagapolutele completed a 38-yard pass to Jacob De Jesus, putting the ball at the 12-yard line. That led to Chase Meyer’s 34-yard field goal, giving Cal a 13-10 lead with 9:40 left in the second quarter. However, Cal’s Trond Grizzell and Mark Kamper dropped potential touchdown passes in the end zone on second and third down before the field goal.

KEY PLAY 6: Cal’s Cole Boscia blocked a Virginia Tech punt, giving Cal the ball at the Virginia Tech 21-yard line. That led to Raphael’s 1-yard touchdown run, giving Cal a 20-10 lead with 1:43 to go in the first half. On the play before the touchdown, Cal faced a fourth-and-2 play from the 3-yard line, and Sagapolutele completed a 2-yard pass to Jacob De Jesus for a first down.

KEY PLAY 7: Virginia Tech's John Love kicked a 52-yard field goal to reduce Cal's lead to 20-13 with 8:45 left in the third quarter.

KEY PLAY 8: Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones completed a 44-yard touchdown pass to Takye Heath to tie the score 20-20 with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter. The score came one play after Marcellous Hawkins ran 34 yards to the Cal 44-yard line.

KEY PLAY 9: On Virginia Tech's second-and-7 play from the Cal 22-yard line, Cal's Cam Sidney intercepted a Kyron Drones pass in the end zone for a touchback, giving Cal the ball at its 20-yard line.

KEY PLAY 10: Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones ran 14 yards for a touchdown to give the Hokies a 27-20 lead with 7:11 to go in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 11: A 34-yard pass from Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to Trond Grizzell on a third-and-8 play moved the ball from the Cal 30-yard line to the Virginia Tech 36-yard line. That led to Kendrick Raphael's 2-yard touchdown run that tied the game 27-27 with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter. A questionable roughing-the-passer call against Virginia Tech on a third-and-goal play from the 5-yard line negated a 6-yard sacks and moved the ball to the 2-yard line, setting up the touchdown.

KEY PLAY 12: Virginia Tech kicker John Love missed a 45-yard field goal when the ball bounced off the right upright with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter, keeping the scored tied at 27-27

KEY PLAY 13: A 22-yard Sagapolutele completion to Mason Mini put the ball at the Virginia Tech 31-yard line with 12 seconds to go, but Cal's Chase Meyer missed a 49-yard field goal attempts with one second left in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 14: On the first play of overtime, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Mason Mini, putting Cal ahead 34-27.

KEY PLAY 15: Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones ran 17 yards for a touchdown to tie the score 34-34 at the end of the first overtime

KEY PLAY 16: In the second overtime, Kyron Drones completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Takye Heath, and Drones ran into the end zone for the two-point coversion to give Virginia Tech a 42-34 lead.

KEY PLAY 17: On a fourth-and-10 play from the 25-yard line, Sagapolutele threw an incompletion intended for Trond Grizzell, ending the game.

STAT OF THE GAME: Virginia Tech had 357 rushing yards, including 275 after halftime; Cal had 39 rushing yards

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME: Cal linebacker Cade Uluave finished with 19 tackles, including three tackles for loss and two sacks. In the first half alone, Uluave had nine tackles, including three tackles for loss and two sacks.

INDIVIDUAL STAT OF THE GAME II: Virginia Tech running back Marcellous Hawks rushed for 167 yards.

QUARTERBACK STATISTICS: Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was 24-for-39 for 285 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He had minus-27 rushing yards. Virginia Tech’s Kyron Drones was 9-for-18 for 119 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and he also ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

WHAT IT MEANS: With a 5-3 record Cal is in danger of suffering its sixth straight losing seasons considering its remaining schedule. Although Cal would need just two more wins in its remaining five games (including a possible bowl game), there are no guaranteed wins left of the Bears schedule. The Bears face 16th-ranked Virginia next week, 19th-ranked Louisville the week after that, improving Stanford (2-2 in the ACC) on the road on November 22 and SMU (3-0 in the ACC) in the final regular-season game. With a 2-2 conference mark, Cal’s chance to finish with a .500 or better conference record for the first time since 2009 took a major hit.

CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: Cal’s chance for a bowl berth dopped considerably to 55%. Even though Cal needs just one more win to become bowl-eligible, all four of the Bears’ remaining regular-season games will be a challenge. At this point Cal figures to be an underdog in three of those games (Virginia, Louisville and SMU), and its November 22 game at Stanford looks like it could be a tossup as the Cardinal (2-2 in the ACC) continues to improve. Heading into this weekend, ESPN’s College Football Power Index gave Cal a 78.6% chance of getting the six wins needed for bowl eligibility but that will drop after this loss.

CAL’S ACC TITLE BAROMETER: After dropping to 2-2 in the conference, Cal’s chance of winning the conference title is less than 1%, and its chance of reaching the ACC title game is at about 3%. Even if Cal wins its remaining four regular-season games – including wins over No. 16 Virginia and No. 19 Louisville – Cal would need some unusual results across the rest of the conference as well as winning some tiebreakers to qualify for the conference title game. Heading into this weekend’s action, the ESPN College Football Power Index gave Cal a 0% chance of winning the ACC championship.

JUSTIN WILCOX’S HOT SEAT READING: Wilcox’s seat got significantly warmer after the Bears’ third loss in the past five games, especially this defeat against a team that was 2-5 and fired its head coach after an 0-3 start. The problem for Wilcox is that the Bears’ biggest challenges lie ahead. How Cal finishes the season will have a  major impact on how Wilcox’s job status is viewed, and as noted above, Cal’s final four regular-season games – including games against No. 16 Virginia and No. 19 Louisville the next two weeks -- present major challenges.  The decision about Wilcox’s job status will be made by football general manager Ron Rivera, who said before the season began that eight or nine wins would represent a successful season for the Golden Bears. However, Wilcox’s contract runs through the 2027 season.

NEXT GAME: Cal (5-3, 2-2 ACC) vs. 16th-ranked Virginia (6-1, 3-0 ACC) at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, on Saturday, November 1. Starting time: To be determined. TV: To be determined. Virginia has won five straight games heading into its Saturday road game against North Carolina. The starting time and television coverage for the Cal-Virginia game will be announced within the next few days.

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Published | Modified
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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