Cal (2-3) met the Mountain West’s UNLV (3-2) for the third time today at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Offensive woes have punctuated the early Cal season, who looked to show improvement against an underperforming opponent. The Golden Bears’ first offensive possession began with a delay of game penalty before the first snap. Their defense got the Rebels off the field quickly, but standout safety Kingston Lopa sustained an injury and was helped off the field. Cal’s next possession was a single 91-yard pass from Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to Taimane Purcell. Chase Meyer’s extra point gave Cal an early 7-0 lead.
Returning standout safety Cam Sidney spotted UNLV 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff, after being called for targeting, shorting the Bears another starting defensive back. On UNLV’s next drive, Jackson Arnold found Kayden McGee for the Rebs’ own 70-yard explosive play, tying the game 7-7 with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter. A UNLV punting disaster handed the Bears the ball around the Rebels’ 33 with less than a minute in the first quarter. Two plays later Sagapolutele threw an interception to defensive back Quandarius Keyes.
The second quarter opened with UNLV attempting a trick play that was picked off by Cal DB Aiden Manutai. The following Cal drive was punctuated by what felt like an unending assault on the quarterback. The following Rebels possession, Jackson Arnold broke free on a 3rd down QB keeper and scored a 55-yard touchdown on his feet giving UNLV the lead 14-7 with plenty of time left in the half.
On their next possession, the Rebels managed to get a fresh set of downs on a 4th down fake punt attempt. The Golden Bears held UNLV to a field goal, but gave them the ball back only a minute later, handing them a good bit of field by means of an illegal hands-to-the-face penalty. The next play Jackson Arnold found Taz Reddicks for a 36-yard touchdown bringing the score to 24-7 in the Rebels’ favor going into halftime. With seconds left in the half, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele sustained a hit to the head that caused him to exit the game for evaluation. He would not return.
Cal’s backup QB Jackson Brousseau found depth-chart gem running back Carson Perry-Smith for a 53-yard touchdown after Cal successfully recovered an attempted onside kick. Cooper Perry caught the two-point conversion. On the following play, UNLV’s returner lost control of the ball and Cal regained possession in the UNLV red zone. Unable to find the touchdown, the Bears called upon Townes McGough who completed a field goal from 38 to bring the score to 24-18 in the Rebels’ favor, with less than five minutes left in the third quarter.
A pass interference call against UNLV handed Cal first and goal on their next possession, and RB Ashten Emory ran it in the following play, and Chase Meyer’s extra point gave the Golden Bears the lead 25-24 with 11:38 left in regulation. On the following UNLV drive, Cal CB Daniel Harris was called for targeting and had to leave the game. On the next down, Jackson Arnold ran the ball 41 yards to the Cal 12. Arnold found Keyan Burnett in the end zone two plays later, and a roughing the passer call against Cal put the Rebels in position to call for a two-point attempt, which they achieved on a QB keeper bringing the score to 32-25 in UNLV’s favor.
Cal returner Niles Davis thought he had made a house call on the following return, but it was called back to midfield. Cal lost possession on downs giving the Rebels a short field which they capitalized on, with the help of a key DPI call on Cal. After some ineffectual running from their running back, QB Jackson Arnold once again found the end zone, making it a 39-25 ballgame in favor of the Rebels following the successful extra point attempt.
Cal took their final time out with around four minutes remaining. The drive ended with a touchdown catch from Ian Strong bringing the score to 39-31 with 28 seconds left in the game. It was Strong’s first touchdown of the year. The two-point conversion failed, was repeated half the distance to the goal line, and failed once more. Cal’s second onside kick attempt was unsuccessful and the game ended.
At the final blow of the whistle, Cal committed 16 penalties for 147 yards. UNLV has not lost a game they were leading at halftime since August 29th, when they did so to Memphis. Cal has not had a comeback victory from a 17+ point deficit since defeating Arizona State 48-46 in 2015. Cal hosts Virginia Tech next Saturday, October 10th.
Writing this from Las Vegas after watching all 4 hours up close. Obviously there were awful penalties, play calling, and bone headed decisions, but what stood out to me was the body language and energy of the team after Brousseau took over for JKS.
The #1 thing that stood out to me with Brousseau vs. JKS was him standing in the pocket to let receivers get open. Also, by not immediately rolling out every passing play, Brousseau wasn't forced to throw while running, as JKS often does.
I think we're a 4 win team at this point, and will be attending or watching games simply to watch what Lupoi (and Rivera) decide to do. I also wouldn't be surprised if we see some notable changes during the season (OC of course), and I wouldn't be shocked to see Lupoi leave this off season either. He is not ready for this job, or any serious coaching job.
Seeing the QB who didn't get snaps with the 1s looking more comfortable with them could mean a number of things: 1) Brousseau is a more talented QB than JKS (see Mendoza, Fernando), 2) JKS is regressing specifically due to bad coaching, 3) we're running the wrong offense for our personnel.
I'm guessing (3), as a version of (2). We saw JKS last year and he was very good. Are we trying to install a Late-Tedford-sized playbook too quickly and no one's figuring it out? Is our coaching just bad? Can we not find SOME functional coaching ability within our massive coaching staff?
Kudos to Brousseau for looking like a seasoned professional. Depending on JKS's injury status, he might be the guy next week (or at least taking the snaps earlier in the week).