Bears Swamped in 2nd Half Flurry at SMU

DALLAS, TX - It was a tale of two halves - one very impressive, followed by one that was anything but as the Bears turned a 20-17 halftime lead into a blowout loss, falling to 3-5 (2-3) in a disastrous 59-20 loss at SMU.

#21 SMU remained in a second-place tie with Wake Forest at 6-1 (4-1) after swamping the Bears with 42 unanswered second-half points - the largest second-half point barrage by a team that trailed at halftime since 2003.

The game saw the return of QB Jaron Keawe Sagapolute to the starting lineup after sitting out the Bears’ 25-20 victory over Virginia Tech and staying on the bench till the fourth quarter in last weekend’s loss to Wake Forest.

All in all, the soph QB acquitted himself well, completing 27-of-37 passes for 265 yards and 1 TD with no interceptions in the loss.

“First and foremost, just got to thank God for allowing me to come back, and one thing I always live by, II Corinthians 5:7: We live by faith and not by sight.

”It was a long process just going through all the procedures to come back and thankful that Coach Tosh believed in me to come back and I was able to be back on the field, though it wasn't our best performance today. I gotta definitely put the guys in a better position, but I'm just grateful that those guys were out there and we fought to the end.”

For the fourth time this season that Cal either led or were tied in the second half, the Bears came away with a loss, with three of those losses completely getting away from them late.

"Got to go figure that out,” Lupoi said. “It's exactly the same messaging with the team. We can't just win one half, right? So then assess.

“I know we had four fourth-down stop opportunities. We were zero for four there, which every one of those led to points. So those are opportunities. We can tackle low and be in position to get off the field. Then from the other side, go in winning, play aggressive, generate ways to put some defensive players on offense. Do everything we can to generate a spark, and we got that in the first half and failed to do so in the second half.”

For the third straight game, the Bears lost the opening coin flip, but the Mustangs opted to receive the opening kick and were stopped with a 3-and-out.

Sagapolutele came out sharp on the Bears’ first drive, going 4-for-4 for 52 yards, including a 36-yard catch-and-run plus an impressive hurdle by receiver Ian Strong‍, who returned from injury, and a TD toss to receiver Chase Hendricks‍ on a 10-yard sideline pass that worked how the staff hoped it would work on similar plays, but rarely did leading up to today’s contest. The Bears creatively lined up OT Frederick Williams wide to help pave the way.

SMU bounced back with a scoring drive of their own, returning a kick from the 1 and breaking several sloppy tackles to start their drive on their 35. The Bears were whistled for 30 yards in penalties on a personal foul by ILB AJ Tuitele‍ and an unnecessary PI by cornerback Ricky Fletcher‍ to aid the Mustangs on their drive.

After stopping the Bears with a 3-and-out, the Mustangs started the drive with a 35-yard pass down the sideline from QB Kevin Jennings to receiver Jalen Cooper over Quimari Shemwell in poor coverage. The Bears nearly forced a punt but SMU gambled by going for it on 4th-and-7 on the Cal 41 and the gamble paid off as Jennings converted the first down with an 11-yard completion to receiver Randy Pittman at the Cal 30.

Facing another fourth down with 4th-and-two on the Cal 22, SMU outschemed the Cal D, isolating a badly-trailing Tuitele in coverage of former Bears’ running back Kendrick Raphael on a wheel route TD that easily scored, putting SMU ahead for the first time in the game, 10-7 2:47 left in the quarter. 

Besides the TD reception, the former Bear also hurt his former squad on the ground, going for 102 yards and two more TDs.

Taking over at their 35 after the kickoff, Sagapolutele led the Bears on an impressive 13-play, 75-yard TD drive that included 19 and 10-yard completions to Strong and a 10-yard completion to frosh receiver Tyree Sams‍. The Bears hit paydirt on a creative Pat McCann call, with Sagapolutele flairing out wide and tight end Mason Mini taking the direct snap and carrying it in up the middle to put the Bears up 14-10 after the Towns McGough‍ PAT with 10:46 left in the half.

The drive also featured the offensive debut of star safety Kingston Lopa‍, who hauled in a pass on a screen for an 11-yard reception.

Penalties continued to plague the Bears on the ensuing drive, with a 15-yard Ashun Shepphard‍ facemask penalty giving the Mustangs a first down at midfield instead of 3rd-and-long. The Bears were also whistled for a pass interference call on cornerback Ricky Fletcher that gave SMU the ball on the half-yard line after receiver Theo Melin-Ohlstrom wrestled the ball away from the senior DB. Raphael eventually converted on 4th-and-1 for a TD run to knot the game at 17 with 1:59 left in the half.

Showing the type of fight too often missing this season, the Bears answered by engineering a 9-play, 56-yard scoring drive, culminating in a McGough 37-yard field goal as the first-half clock expired, putting the Bears up 20-17 at the half.

The Bears started off the second half poorly, generating no yards on three straight plays followed by a short 36-yard Angus Davies‍ punt that gave SMU the ball on their 39. They compounded their sloppy play by letting Rafael slip away from several tackles for a 13-yard run, committed another pass interference call to put the Mustangs in scoring position then wrapped up the drive by allowing running back Christian Rhoads to bounce the ball outside and score untouched with a 5-yard TD run to give SMU a 24-20 lead with 10:11 left in the third quarter.

The next drive was even worse as the Bears only managed to lose five yards, followed by a low, short hang-time 41-yard punt by Davies that was returned 26 yards to the Cal 35. QB Kevin Jennings then set the career SMU passing TD record three plays later with his 73^rd passing TD for a 21-yard TD toss on a play that again found a Cal linebacker in a coverage mismatch as ILB Kamar Mothudi‍ was burned for the TD catch by receiver Derrick McFall to put SMU up 31-20 just 7:34 into the third quarter.

Another 3-and-out followed by another short 34-yard Davies punt gave the Mustangs the ball at their 37. SMU proceeded to again slice right through the Bears' defense, driving 65 yards in just six plays and 1:53 to further extend their lead to 38-20 with 4:04 left in the quarter.

The rout was on.

The Bears finally picked up their first first down on their fourth possession of the second half, then promptly gave up an 8-yard sack that effectively ended any hope of mounting a scoring drive to try and get back in the game. They then attempted another special teams fake but a wobbly pass by punter Davies was easily batted down, giving SMU the ball at the Cal 37.

SMU took advantage quickly, pushing their lead to 45-20 eight plays later on another Raphael TD run. The Mustangs ended up tacking on two more final touchdowns to end the game with their 39-point winning margin.

The Jekyll and Hyde Bears have got to figure out a way to not let games get away from them when the game’s on the line and avoid letting the dam break when they face adversity or even the meager goal of getting to a minor bowl with a .500 record will slip away from them before they know it - not the situation the program and fan base want to find themselves in during this crucial run-up to realignment.

The Bears will next be back on the road next weekend, facing North Carolina State in another 11 am special following the 3-4 (1-3) Wolfpack’s 31-28 loss to Stanford this weekend.