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Reporting from CALIFORNIA MEMORIAL STADIUM
After an offseason filled with expectations, and weeks of anticipation for their opener against UCLA, the California Golden Bears allowed 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points in a 45-24 loss to the Bruins Saturday night.
The Bruins rushing attack carried them to their first win under new head coach Bob Chesney, totaling 277 yards and all six UCLA touchdowns. Fifth-year senior Anthony Woods finished with 118 yards on just eight carries and two touchdowns. Wayne Knight, a senior who followed Chesney from James Madison, also had eight carries, totaling 71 yards and three scores.
For Cal, sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele showcased his offensive capabilities, throwing for 271 yards and two touchdowns. But two costly interceptions came in the fourth quarter, each leading to a Bruins touchdown.
On the ground, the Golden Bears were led by junior transfer Adam Mohammed, who had a career night in his Cal debut. His 28 carries, 120 rushing yards and seven catches were all career highs. In two years as a Washington Husky, Mohammed had 716 rushing yards in 26 games, but he looks to be a key figure for Cal throughout 2026.
Sagapolutele said:
“He’s an unbelievable player. He kept the chains moving, he was running hard for us.”
Sagapolutele got to work early after Cal won the opening coin toss and elected to receive. A 10-play drive capped by Sagapolutele finding senior wide receiver Chase Hendricks for a 9-yard touchdown had the Golden Bears in front early. Within that opening drive, Sagapolutele went 5-for-6, finding five different pass catchers.
But both offenses came ready to start their seasons, and UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava answered right back. A 9-yard touchdown run capped a seven-play drive that tied the game at 7 after eight minutes of play. It had the look of a track meet in Berkeley.
Both Iamaleava and Sagapolutele entered their second year as their team’s starting quarterback, but the two couldn’t have taken more different paths to get here.
Iamaleava spent his first two years at Tennessee, where he led the Volunteers to a College Football Playoff berth in 2024. After a rough transfer out of Knoxville, Iamaleava landed in Westwood and finished 2025 with 1,928 passing yards and 17 touchdowns (13 passing, four rushing).
Sagapolutele had a breakout true freshman campaign in 2025, throwing for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns and leading the Golden Bears to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. He became just the second true freshman to start a season opener for Cal, joining Jared Goff in 2013.
For a freshman quarterback to have a season like that in today’s college football landscape would normally lead to a transfer, much like Iamaleava’s. But one of Tosh Lupoi’s first tasks after being named the Travers Family Head Football Coach in December was to retain his quarterback for another year. He did, and now has his Golden Bears as a dark horse in the ACC.
After multiple drives ending in punts for both teams, a pass interference call on UCLA corner Scooter Jackson on fourth-and-3 put the Golden Bears at the UCLA 7 early in the second quarter. But the Bruins defense kept Cal out of the end zone and allowed only a Towns McGough 28-yard field goal, giving Cal its lead back at 10-7.
The ground game continued for UCLA on its next two drives. Woods put the Bruins in front for the first time with a 31-yard touchdown run, cutting back and extending the ball across the goal line. Then Knight, in his UCLA debut, ran in from eight yards out. Fourteen straight points had the Bruins and their traveling fans buzzing, up 21-10.
The final 3:18 of the first half had almost everything. A strip-sack of Sagapolutele by UCLA’s Sammy Omosigho gave the Bruins the ball right back. Kingston Lopa snagged his first career interception off Iamaleava at the Cal 13. Sagapolutele then drove the Golden Bears 87 yards in 38 seconds, ending with an 8-yard touchdown catch by tight end Mason Mini.
But with 12 seconds left before halftime, Iamaleava found Mikey Matthews between the hashes for 43 yards, setting up former Golden Bear kicker Mateen Bhaghani for a 38-yard field goal with three seconds left.
All of that led to a 24-17 UCLA lead at halftime.
On the first play of the second half, Cal linebacker AJ Tuitele was ejected following a targeting penalty on UCLA wide receiver Landon Ellis. A big call, as Tuitele led all Cal defenders with four total tackles before his ejection.
But Cal’s defense looked like a different group in the third quarter, and coincidentally so did Iamaleava, who completed just two passes for five yards in the period.
Lupoi credited defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings:
“I thought [Hutchings] did a great job with a couple adjustments. We utilized some calls that we had not used in the first half and that was a big spark there.”
Mohammed tied the game at 24 on Cal’s opening drive of the second half, accounting for 47 yards on the ground during the 14-play march and capping it with a 1-yard touchdown.
With the game still tied early in the fourth quarter and Cal facing third-and-8 from its own 18, Ian Strong couldn’t haul in a throw from Sagapolutele. UCLA’s Ta’Shawn James grabbed it and returned it to the Cal 31.
Knight didn’t waste any time, taking it 31 yards to the house on the first play after the interception. A complete turnaround for the rowdy Golden Bear crowd.
But James wasn’t done. He ended the next Golden Bears drive too, picking off Sagapolutele on a sliding catch at the Cal 46.
With more urgency to run out the clock, UCLA turned that one into seven points as well, going up two scores on a 4-yard Knight run and getting the game clock inside three minutes. After a Cal turnover on downs, Woods dashed 53 yards for another touchdown, sealing a Week 1 win for the Big Ten squad.
Up Next
Next Saturday, the Golden Bears (0-1, 0-0 ACC) hit the road for the first time this season to face the Syracuse Orange (1-0, 0-0) at the JMA Wireless Dome. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ACC Network.
Two picks for James
UCLA transfer corner Ta’Shawn James had both interceptions of Sagapolutele on Saturday night. In three seasons at Iowa State, James never intercepted a pass in a college game. He also finished with eight total tackles in his Bruins debut.
Pro scouts in attendance
Representatives from several NFL teams were in attendance, including the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers.
Sellout crowd on hand
With a paid attendance of 54,283, Saturday night was the first sellout at California Memorial Stadium since the 2024 Big Game against Stanford.
