Cal Sports Report

Cal Game Summary: Bears Upset No. 15 Louisville in Overtime

A Cal touchdown pass on fourth down in overtime gives the Bears an upset over Louisville, which was favored by 18.5 points
Jake Curtis|
Cal wide receiver Jacob de Jesus threw a pass that was completed early in the game Saturday
Cal wide receiver Jacob de Jesus threw a pass that was completed early in the game Saturday | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Cal wins season-opening basketball game:

CAL 29, NO. 15 LOUISVILLE 26 OT

Cal upset 15th-ranked Louisville 29-26 in overtime on Saturday evening in Louisville, Kentucky.

After Louisville kicked a field goal in its possession of the first overtime, Cal opted to go for the win instead of a tying field goal on a fourth down from the 3-yard line on its overtime possession. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jacob De Jesus to win the game.

Louisville, No. 14 in this week's AP poll and No. 15 in the CFP rankings, is the highest AP ranked team Cal has defeated since it beat AP No. 8 Washington in 2018. Louisville is the highest ranked team Cal has defeated on the road since 2009, when Cal upset AP No. 14 Stanford on the Cardinal’s home field.

Cal was an 18.5-point underdog in this game. The Bears are now bowl-eligible.

The summary:

CAL 29, NO. 15 LOUISVILLE 26 (OT)

RECORDS: CAL (6-4, 3-3 ACC),  LOUISVILLE (7-2, 4-2 ACC)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Cal wide receiver Jacob De Jesus and quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele share the honor after combining for the game-winning touchdown. Sagapolutele threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns, and De Jesus had 158 receiving yards and a touchdown.

TURNING POINT: Cal scored the game-winning touchdown on a 3-yard, fourth-down pass from Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to Jacob De Jesus in overtime.

Cal wins season-opening basketball game: Linebacker Cade Uluave, who began the weekend second in the ACC in tackles, did not play Saturday because of a right-hand injury despite being listed as “probable” in Friday’s injury report. Starting defensive tackle TJ Bollers, starting safety Aiden Manutai, backup running back LJ Johnson Jr., and offensive lineman Lamar Robinson, who was expected to be the Bears starting center this week, were all out Saturday. Bastian Swinney made his first start of season, beginning the game at center, replacing Tyson Ruffins, who had snap issues in shotgun situations. Tight end Mason Mini left the game with an injury.

LOUISVILLE PLAYER AVAILABILTY: Running back Isaac Brown, who is second in the ACC in rushing, missed Saturday’s game after being injured last week. Linebacker Stanquan Clark was not available for the sixth straight week. There were thoughts earlier in the week, he might be ready to return, but that was not the case. Running back Duke Watson returned to action against Cal after missing multiple games.

KEY PLAY 1: Cal kicker Chase Meyer missed a 40-yard field-goal attempt at the end of Cal’s first possessions of the game. Cal had a second-and-9 from the Louisville 10-yard line, but an incompletion, a penalty and a sack moved the Bears backward before the missed kick.

Cal wins season-opening basketball game: Louisville quarterback Miller Moss completed a 40-yard pass to wide receiver Caullin Lacy, moving the ball to the Cal 8-yard line. Two plays later running back Duke Watson scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run, giving Louisville a 7-0 lead with 5:11 left in the first quarter.

RECORDS: CAL 6-4, 3-3 ACC,  LOUISVILLE 7-2, 4-2 ACC: Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed 20-yard touchdown pass to Landon Morris to tie the score 7-7 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter. Two plays before the touchdown, Sagapolutle completed a 39-yard pass to Quaron Adams to put the ball at the 21-yard line.

KEY PLAY 4: Louisville’s Cooper Ranvier kicked a 30-yard field goal to give the Cardinal a 10-7 lead with 11:01 left in the second quarter. The key play in the drive was a 19-yard pass that quarterback Miller Moss completed to himself after the ball was batted down by Cal’s Jasiah Wagoner. That completion put the ball at the Cal 39-yard line.

KEY PLAY 5: Cal’s Chase Meyer kicked a 27-yard field goal to tie the score 10-10 with 5:58 remaining in the first half. A 25-yard Sagapolutele completion to Jacob De Jesus and a 24-yard run by Kendrick Raphael were the key plays on the drive.

KEY PLAY 6: Louisville’s Cooper Ranvier kicked a 49-yard field goal to give the Cardinals a 13-10 lead with 2:34 to go in the second quarter. Keyjuan Brown’s 35-yard run put Louisville in position for the field goal.

KEY PLAY 7: Cal running back Kendrick Raphael scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run with six seconds left in the second quarter, giving Cal a 17-13 lead at halftime. Sagapolutele’s 23-yard pass to Raphael moved the ball to the 10-yard line, setting up the touchdown run.

KEY PLAY 8: Cal's Hezekiah Masses intercepted a Miller Moss pass at the Louisville 37-yard line on the second play of the second half. It led to Chase Meyer's 45-yard field goal, increasing the Bears' led to 20-13 with 11:34 left in the third quarter.

KEY PLAY 9: Louisville's Miller Moss scored a touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback sneak to tie the game 20-20 with 7:43 left in the third quarter. Two 15-yard penalties against Cal aided the Cardinals on that possession.

KEY PLAY 10:  Chase Meyer kicked a 26-yard field goal to complete a 67-yard drive and give Cal a 23-20 lead with 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

KEY PLAY 11: Louisville's Cooper Ranvier kicked a 39-yard field goal to tie the game 23-23 with 11:08 remaining in the fourth quarter.

KEY PLAY 12: Louisville's Cooper Ranvier kicked a 49-yard field goal in the first overtime to give the Cardinal a 26-23 lead.

KEY PLAY 13: Sagapolutele completed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jacob De Jesus on fourth down in overtime to give Cal a 29-26 victory.

STAT OF THE GAME: Cal put up 427 yards of offense against Louisville, which entered the game ranked No. 1 in the ACC in total defense. Louisville had 351 yards of offense.

captures his fifth interception of the season to get the Bears going in the second half: Cal wide receiver Jacob De Jesus had 16 catches for 158 yards and a touchdown. He also completed a 27-yard pass.

CALS BOWL BAROMETER:&nbsp: Louisville quarterback Miller Moss completed two passes to himself.

QUARTERBACK STATISTICS: Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was 30-for-47 for 323, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Louisville's Miller Moss was 20-for-38 for 203 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.

WHAT IT MEANS: Louisville, which is No. 14 in this week's AP poll and No. 15 in the CFP rankings, is the highest ranked AP top-25 team Cal has defeated since it beat No. 8 Washington in 2018. Louisville is the highest ranked team Cal has defeated on the road since 2009, when Cal upset No. 14 Stanford on the Cardinal’s home field. Cal’s win over Louisville was Cal’s first win over an AP top-25 team in five years. This was a significant upset because Cal was an 18.5-point underdog against Louisville and ESPN’s College Football Power Index gave Louisville a 91.7% chance to win the game.

Cal’s 6-4 record is the Bears’ best mark through10 games since 2018, when the Bears also started 6-4. Cal needs to win just one of its three remaining games (including a bowl game) to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2019. Cal needs to win one of its two remaining ACC games to finish with a conference winning percentage of .500 or better for the first time since 2009. Cal has a bye next week before facing Stanford on the road on November 22. Cal then faces SMU at home the following Saturday in its final regular-season game.

CAL'S BOWL BAROMETER: With its sixth win, Cal becomes bowl-eligible for the third straight year, and has about a 99% chance of landing a bowl berth. There is an unlikely possibility that a six-win team would be left out of the bowl picture if there are more bowl-eligible teams that bowl-game vacancies. But Cal, as a Power 4 conference team, is still more likely to get a bowl berth with a 6-6 record than some other teams with a 6-6 record. A seventh Cal win would end any debate.

CAL’S ACC TITLE BAROMETER: With a 3-3 conference record, Cal’s chance of winning the ACC title stand at about 4%, and its chance of reaching the conference title game is less than 5%. Cal does not face Georgia Tech, Miami, Pitt or Clemson this season, so that helps. But even if Cal wins its remaining two games to finish 5-3 in the ACC, that is highly unlikely to be enough to give the Bears a spot in the conference championship 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 cooled off considerably with this win over the nation’s 14th-ranked team (15th in the CFP rankings). This  upset does not assure that Wilcox will be back at Cal next season, but his return for another season is more likely now. With Cal at 6-4, Wilcox’s job seems safe for now, although how the Bears perform in their final two regular-season games could affect his fate.

If Cal wins both of its remaining games to finish the regular season at 8-4, Wilcox will be back for 2026. If the Bears lose both of those games, his job status will be in question. General manager Ron Rivera will determine whether Wilcox returns for the 2026 season, and Rivera said before the season started that eight or nine wins would constitute a successful season. How the Bears finish the season will have a lot to do with how Cal administrators view Wilcox’s status, because performances late in the season have the greatest impact on perception. Wilcox, now in his ninth season at Cal, has a 48-54 record as the Bears’ head coach, and his contract runs through the 2027 season.

NEXT GAME: Cal (6-4, 3-3 ACC) vs. Stanford (3-7, 2-5 ACC) at Stanford Stadium on Saturday, November 22. Starting time: To be determined. TV: To be determined. Stanford lost to North Carolina 20-15 on Saturday.  Cal and Stanford both have byes next week before they meet for the 128th Big Game. The starting time and television coverage for the Cal-Stanford game will be announced Monday.

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Published
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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