BERKELEY — Cal’s offense couldn’t muster a single touchdown or build on Kamar Mothudi’s first-quarter scoop-and-score, and the Golden Bears’ special-teams unit remained nightmarish, allowing Clemson to leave Memorial Stadium with a 24-10 win on Friday night.
"All this work we do ... it guarantees the opportunity to compete,” Lupoi said. “It's not going to guarantee success ... We got to execute at a higher level ..."
Lupoi and his team, facing UNLV in Las Vegas next week, now have a 2-2 record as they search for answers.
Defensive coordinator Michael Hutching’s unit, led by safeties Kingston Lopa and Isaiah Crosby, who each earned 11 tackles, fought for as long as it could against the Tigers. But Jordan Somerville’s offense gained just 231 total yards and 13 first downs, while Clemson earned 363 total yards and 23 first downs, leaving Cal’s defense weary as the night aged.
Cal sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele completed 16 of 29 passes for 119 yards, zero scores and two interceptions. He was sacked twice.
In fact, Golden Bears tight end Mason Mini had the team’s longest play with a 26-yard pass to wideout Ian Strong. That offers a glimpse into Cal’s struggles on a night where the team was 3-for-12 on third downs and 0-for-2 on fourth downs.
“Full faith that he's gonna be right there with me as far as dissecting every play that occurred, once again, that we didn't win,” Lupoi said of Somerville. “We’ve got the players to do it, and we've got a great staff … Really searching, you know, where we can put our players in the best possible position for success.”
Cal running back Adam Mohammed had 16 powerful touches for 81 yards before exiting the loss with a left leg injury.
Meanwhile, Tigers punt returner Bryant Wesco Jr. flipped the game by taking a low-liner punt from Angus Davies 65 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 3:57 remaining in the third quarter.
“Angus has done an incredible job,” Lupoi prefaced. “That makes it very difficult when we punt a linedrive right there and put a future NFL player in that position; can’t let that happen, right?”
Then, on third-and-8 from Clemson’s own 25-yard line, Clemson running back Gideon Davidson delivered the dagger with a 75-yard sprint for a score, his second of the game.
“Great call by them to shift into that formation on third-and-8,” Lupoi said. “Not a lot of teams are gonna run the ball right there; a great call that hit us on a pass-oriented defense.”
Outside of that game-sealer, Clemson’s offense didn’t have much going, either. True freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds completed 13 of 21 passes for 108 yards and zero scores. He was also sacked twice.
However, the Tigers had possession for nearly 10 minutes longer than the Golden Bears.
"I would say our practices (are) pretty smooth,” wideout Chase Hendricks, who finished with four receptions for 37 yards, said of Cal’s pro-style scheme. “We have high execution in practice. Now, it's just about translating to the game. ... It takes everybody."
It would be hard for any defense to survive that disparity.
"Coming into the game, we were all feeling very prepared, really good,” said defensive tackle Jericho Johnson, who finished with five tackles and one for loss. “We do face a bit of disappointment with these results ... we're all just ready to go over the film, get back to work, recover and hit the field running."
The Golden Bears wasted another primetime opportunity in front of an announced crowd of 41,778 in Berkeley. All Lupoi and Cal can do is get back to the drawing board, as major changes sound unlikely.
“I told them that I believe in this team, believe in the staff,” Lupoi shared of his message to the locker room. “Anything from a staff standpoint that we gotta do a better job, that's the first thing we're gonna address.
“And then call out exactly what we need to fix from the standard of play.”
