The Tosh Lupoi Era for the Cal football team began in Berkeley on Saturday night with a full house at Memorial Stadium and plenty of thrills. What it ultimately lacked, however, was a victory for the Bears, who saw UCLA score three fourth-quarter touchdowns to claim a 45-24 victory with a majority of Cal fans clearing out of their seats before the final whistle.
It seemed nothing could stop Cal after sophomore Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele delivered three consecutive completions to take the Bears 87 yards into the end zone in just 38 seconds to cut the Bears' deficit to 21-17 toward the end of the first half.
With the Memorial Stadium home crowd roaring and the powers of their star quarterback on full display in the moon-balls he summoned, it felt like nothing could stop the Bears from satisfying the hype that the team spent the last eight months cultivating. A start to what the program hoped could be a Cinderella season.
And then the clock struck midnight.
The UCLA offensive line began to mash Cal in the trenches. Bruins running backs Wayne Knight and Jaivian Thomas started to steamroll through tackles and break containment. And the Sagapolutele magic turned into dust as a mishandled snap on a fourth-down and two fourth-quarter interceptions - one off the hands of his receiver and the other right to defense (both to the Bruins' Ta'Shawn James) - gave UCLA the momentum to take the game and run.
#team
It seemed nothing could stop Cal after sophomore Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele delivered three consecutive completions to take the Bears 87 yards into the end zone in just 38 seconds to cut the Bears' deficit to 21-17 toward the end of the first half.
With the Memorial Stadium home crowd roaring and the powers of their star quarterback on full display in the moon-balls he summoned, it felt like nothing could stop the Bears from satisfying the hype that the team spent the last eight months cultivating. A start to what the program hoped could be a Cinderella season.
And then the clock struck midnight.
The UCLA offensive line began to mash Cal in the trenches. Bruins running backs Wayne Knight and Jaivian Thomas started to steamroll through tackles and break containment. And the Sagapolutele magic turned into dust as a mishandled snap on a fourth-down and two fourth-quarter interceptions - one off the hands of his receiver and the other right to defense (both to the Bruins' Ta'Shawn James) - gave UCLA the momentum to take the game and run.
#team
2 months ago
