No. 23 SMU Pulls Away In Second Half To Defeat Cal - California Golden Bears Athletics

Saturday, October 24

Dallas, Texas

9 AM

California

3-5 , 2-3

SMU

6-1 , 4-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
California	7	13	0	0	20
SMU	10	7	21	21	59

WR Ian Strong had 5 catches for 71 yards against SMU.

Photo by: Brianna Ali/Cal Athletics

10/24/2026 12:56 PM | Football

Box Score Postgame Notes

Bears Stay On Road Next Week To Face NC State

By: Cal Athletics

DALLAS - Buoyed by the return of quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele as the starter, the California football team played a strong first half Saturday before No. 23 SMU took control after halftime and knocked off the Bears, 59-20, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

Cal (3-5, 2-3 ACC) led 20-17 at the break before the Mustangs (6-1, 4-1) scored 42 straight points.

Sagapolutele had missed most of the previous 2 1/2 games because of a concussion suffered late in the first half of the Bears' game at UNLV on Oct. 3. On Saturday, the lefty completed 27 of his 37 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown.

"It's been a long process, just going through all the procedures to come back," Sagapolutele said, adding that he's thankful that Travers Family Head Football Coach Tosh Lupoi "believed in me to come back and I was able to be back on the field."

Cal drove 65 yards in seven plays for a touchdown on its opening possession. The key play was a 36-yard hookup from Sagapolutele to Ian Strong, who hurdled a defender to pick up extra yardage. The score came on a wide receiver screen to Chase Hendricks, who sliced his way to the end zone and the Bears were up 7-0. Hendricks finished with seven receptions for 83 yards.

The Mustangs scored the next 10 points, but the Bears responded with a 13-play, 75-yard drive that took 7:01 off the clock. On 4th-and-5 at the SMU 31, Cal used a fake field-goal try to keep the drive alive. Backup QB Dominic Ingrassia was the holder, and he ran up the middle for 7 yards to the 24.

Cal again went to its bag of tricks on 2nd-and-goal from the 1. Mason Mini, normally a tight end, took the snap and bulled over the goal line. Cal led 14-10 as Mini recorded his first rushing touchdown. He also has caught six TD passes and thrown a scoring pass in his career with the Bears.

Towns McGough connected on a career-long 41-yard field goal to up the Bears' edge to 17-10 with 5:12 left in the half. The Mustangs answered with a touchdown with 1:57 remaining in the half to make it 17-17.

The Bears still were able to go to the locker room at halftime with the lead. Sagapolutele engineered a nine-play, 56-yard drive. His 16-yard completion to Strong (5 receptions, 71 yards) on the right sideline gave Cal the ball at the SMU 19 with one tick left. McGough nailed a 37-yard field goal on the final play of the half to make it 20-17.

Lupoi said, "To be winning at half and then come out the way we did was really disappointing, so … we've got to make every correction possible."

Because of injuries, players who normally are defensive backs wound up getting snaps on offense. Niles Davis ran four times for 11 yards and Kingston Lopa had one reception for 11 yards.

The Bears are on the road again next Saturday when they face NC State (3-4, 1-3 ACC). at 9 a.m. PT. The game will air on the ACC Network.