BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Gio Lopez threw three of his four touchdown passes in the first half and No. 21 Wake Forest rolled past California 41-7 on Saturday night.
The Demon Deacons (6-1, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) dominated from the start by scoring touchdowns on five of six first-half possessions to bring out the boo birds from the home crowd for the Golden Bears (3-4, 2-2).
Wake Forest celebrated its first ranking in the AP poll in four years with the thorough victory.
Lopez threw for 267 yards with three of the touchdowns coming on passes to tight end Dominick Barry, including two long ones in the first half. He also connected with Jack Foley in the first half to give him 23 total touchdowns this season passing and running.
Cal was unable to build on last week’s dramatic 25-20 win against Virginia Tech and lost for the third time in four home games against FBS competition. The Bears trailed 34-0 at the half for their biggest halftime deficit since going down 41-3 at Oregon in 2013.
Jackson Brousseau went 17 for 28 for 81 yards in his second career start before getting replaced by Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in the second half.
This game was decided quickly with Lopez engineering a five-play, 99-yard drive on Wake Forest's first possession with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Barry. The Demon Deacons stopped Cal on a fourth-and-1 from its 34 on the second possession for the Bears and scored immediately on a 29-yard pass to Foley following an offside penalty on Cal.
Wake Forest then built the lead to 21-0 on the next possession when Jamar Searcy capped a 78-yard drive with a 1-yard run.
Ty Clark III's 31-yard run made it 27-0 and then Lopez and Barry connected on a 30-yard TD to make it 34-0 at the half.
The takeaway
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons averaged 12.3 yards per play in the first half to win their fourth road game against a power conference team already this season. Wake Forest outgained Cal 394-142 in the first half.
Cal: Coach Tosh Lupoi stuck with Brousseau to start at QB instead of Sagapolutele, who missed last week's game with a concussion. Lupoi told ESPN it would be a competition at quarterback going forward despite the heavy investment Cal has made in Sagapolutele. Sagapolutele did throw a TD pass in the fourth quarter to avoid the shutout.
Up next
Wake Forest: Hosts Virginia on Oct. 31.
Cal: At No. 24 SMU on Saturday.
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