By Barbara Mason
The California Bears (3-5) had their worst loss of the season last week losing to Wake Forest 41-7. Today they take on the SMU Mustangs (6-1) looking to clean up a whole lot and come away with a far better effort. SMU presents yet another challenge for Cal. The good news for the Bears is that Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele will start in today’s game.
California scored the first touchdown of the day taking a 7-0 lead. The Mustangs countered with a 29-yd field goal but the Bears defense were able to keep SMU out of the end zone. Late in the quarter SMU took the lead scoring their first touchdown of the day leading 10-7.
Cal answered back in the second quarter scoring their second touchdown of the day taking a 14-10 lead. They would go on to kick a 41-yd field goal extending their lead to 17-10. With under two minutes left in the half SMU scored their second touchdown of the day and this game was tied at 17. The Bears would tack on a 37-yd field goal taking a 20-17 lead into the locker room at the half. It had been a great first half of football for California.
SMU opened the third quarter with a touchdown taking a 24-20 lead. It was all SMU for the rest of the quarter. They would score two more touchdowns taking a 38-20 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs were relentless scoring three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a final score of 59-20 making this an even more disappointing loss than Wake Forest. After such a promising first half, this loss was especially crushing.
GAME RECAP
Today the California Bears were looking to bounce back after a rough loss to Wake Forest last week. Today’s matchup with SMU would be another huge challenge for the Bears. Cal scored the first touchdown of the game taking a 7-0 lead. Starting quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was back under center after missing a few games on concussion protocol. He connected with Chase Hendricks for 10 yards and the Bears had a promising start in this game. At 7:41 California was able to keep the Mustangs out of the end zone allowing a 29-yd Brendan Baird field goal retaining the Bears lead 7-3. As the quarter wore down the Mustangs scored their first touchdown of the day taking a 10-7 lead. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings completed a 22-yd to Kendrick Raphael for the score.
Cal took back the lead at 10:46 in the second quarter 14-10. Mason Mini rushed for 1-yd and the touchdown. At 5:12 the Bears extended their lead hitting a 41-yd Towns McGough field goal 17-10. The Mustangs tied up the game at 17 with under two minutes left in the half. That score was a 1-yd rush from Kendrick Raphael. As the clock ran out California was able to kick a second field goal; this one for 37 yards taking a 20-17 lead into the locker room at the half. It was looking really good for the Bears.
This game turned completely around in the third quarter. The Bears offense and defense struggled throughout the entire quarter. SMU was able to score three touchdowns in the quarter leaving the Bears blindsided. The Mustangs scored two rushing touchdowns both from running back Christian Rhodes, the first for five yards and a second for three yards. The third touchdown was scored mid-way through the quarter when Jennings connected with Derrick McFall for 21 yards. Going into the fourth quarter SMU had a 38-20 lead.
The fourth quarter was a re-play of the third with another three touchdowns scored. The first touchdown scored in the fourth was a 1-yd rush from Raphael. SMU Quarterback Jennings connected with Jason Hale for 17 yds and a score. The final touchdown of the day for the Mustangs was a 10-yd rush from EJ Kelly. When the dust had settled SMU had walzed away with a 59-20 decision. It had been a nightmare of a second half for California.
GAME NOTES
The California Golden Bears completely fell apart in the second half of this game. What made it so very frustrating was that Cal played a very good first half of football. They led 20-17 at halftime and then they were outscored 42-0 for the rest of the game.
What went so terribly wrong in that second half? Their offense went dead silent was exactly what happened. In the first half Sagapolutele was completing passes, moving the ball and keeping the SMU defense completely off balance, thus taking the 20-17 lead into the third quarter. Cal had 255 first half yards.
It all went awry in the third quarter. The Bears opened the second half with three consecutive three-and-outs. The offense could not sustain drives, they could not give their defense a rest and they could not answer the SMU scoring. Sagapolutele completed 27 of 37 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown in the first half and only had 51 passing yards in the entire second half.
SMU took control of the line of scrimmage was a huge reason for the turn-around. Their running game went crazy finishing with 256 rushing yards compared to Cal’s 40 yards. Another key for the Mustangs were the conversions in crucial situations. Running back Kendrick Raphael scored on fourth-down plays with quarterback Jennings making big passing plays that Cal couldn’t stop. The Bears had a lot of trouble stopping the run consistently. Throughout the second half SMU over and over put together long scoring drives and the second half unraveled quickly for California.
As if this was not bad enough, penalties made a bad situation even worse. Cal had 11 penalties for 108 yards. The penalties over and over put the Bears in difficult situations and helped SMU extend their drives. What is concerning is that the Bears were unable to make any adjustments when SMU got the momentum.
There are three critical things that California needs to address right now. They absolutely have to make second-half offensive adjustments so opponents cannot shut down their passing game. They need a more effective running attack keeping defenses honest and giving their quarterback some help. As far as the defense, they need to tackle better and get a grip on those penalties. Making all these adjustments is far easier said than done.
Sagapolutele sure showed in the first half that he can move the ball against the best. Now the question, why Cal couldn’t sustain that after the half? Much of it had to do with the adjustments that SMU made. They scored on their first six second-half drives which is pretty amazing. They dominated the running game and Cal didn’t have any answers for any of it offensively or defensively.
On Halloween next Saturday, the Bears will take on NC State at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh North Carolina. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 9:00 AM. They will need to clean up a lot of what went so wrong against SMU today. What is encouraging is the first half of football that they played today. Now can they do this for four quarters of ball that is the question?
