Cal’s offensive experiment continues on Saturday at SMU when two different elements will be combined to see if they produce a spark.
Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi is in charge of the project, and he has not shown a penchant for patience. If something is not working he tries to fix it immediately.
Thus, we are likely to see the first pairing of Pat McCann as an offensive play-caller with Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele as the quarterback carrying out McCann’s orders for Cal (3-4, 2-2 ACC).
Lupoi has not announced whether Sagapolutele or Jackson Brousseau, who started the past two games, will be the Bears’ starting quarterback in Saturday morning’s game against 23rd-ranked SMU (5-1, 3-1 ACC). However, based on recent events, it is assumed Sagapolutele will be the quarterback on Saturday. In fact, if it isn’t Sagapolutele, Cal nation will be asking some tough questions.
How Sagapolutele will respond after being replaced as the Bears’ starting quarterback last week is an added element.
The eighth game is a little late in the season to be trying out new things on offense, and is typically an indication that the offense has struggled. Indeed, Cal has averaged just 19.7 points against its six FBS foes, and two of Cal’s 21 touchdowns have been scored by its defense.
So let’s review what Cal has done so far to try to put life into its offense.
The combination of Sagapolutele as quarterback and Jordan Somerville as play-caller did not work, as the Bears’ offense scored just 48 points over the first three and half games against FBS foes combined with that duo.
So the play-calling duties were transferred to Pat McCann, the team’s passing-game coordinator, in the second half of the October 3 game against UNLV. By coincidence that is also when Brousseau took over as Cal’s quarterback after Sagapolutele sustained a concussion late in the first half.
The Brousseau-McCann combination produced 24 second-half points in the 39-31 loss to the Rebels, then led Cal to a 25-20 upset victory over Virginia Tech with Sagapolutele still unable to play.
Sagapolutele was available the next week against Wake Forest, but Lupoi stuck with the hot combination of Brousseau and McCann, which fell flat against the Demon Deacons. In nearly three quarters of playing time Brousseau produced just 81 passing yards and no points.
Sagapolutele came in late in the third quarter with Cal trailing 41-0 and provided a promising sample of what could be expected from the McCann-Sagapolutele pairing. In a little more than one quarter Sagapolutele was 15-for-18 for 110 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.
It needs to be noted that Wake Forest, leading by 41 points, was no longer playing an aggressive defense and was content to let substitute players finish out the game as Cal picked up consistent gains.
The experiment will be conducted under normal game conditions for the first time on Saturday, but there are three other factors.
---SMU has a strong defense, ranking third in the ACC in total defense and ranking first in fewest passing yards allowed per game. Being productive against that unit on SMU’s home field, where the Mustangs have won every game since joining the ACC in 2024, will be a challenge for any offense.
---Cal cannot expect much help from its running game. The Bears rank 137th of the 138 FBS teams in in the country rushing offense, and the Bears will be without leading rusher, Adam Mohammed again on Saturday. Having a productive passing game without the support of a rushing attack is a major challenge.
---Will Sagapolutele’s confidence be an issue. He was Cal’s starting quarterback for all 13 games last year as a freshman, and there was never a doubt that he was the starter.
But Sagapolutele was essentially benched to begin last week’s game, as Lupoi had his choice between Sagapolutele and Brousseau, and he chose Brousseau.
Sagapolutele seems like a strong-minded, self-assured person with no discernible ego issues, but being replaced as the starter can put a bit of uncertainty into a quarterback’s mind when uncertainty can be a problem.
The latest experiment begins at 9 a.m. Pacific time, 11 a.m. Dallas time, on Saturday at SMU.
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