BERKELEY, Calif. — Cal’s overtime win over Louisville wasn’t clean, wasn’t smooth, and certainly wasn’t stress-free. But on a night when the fourth quarter turned into a 23–23 deadlock and both offenses slipped into paralysis, the Golden Bears managed the only thing that mattered: finishing the final drive with conviction.
Backed by a freshman quarterback who refused to look overwhelmed and a receiver who dictated the game from start to finish, Cal escaped with a 29–26 win — the kind of performance that revealed more about the team’s resolve than the stat sheet ever could.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele spent most of the night navigating pressure and dragging Cal’s offense out of tight spots, but the freshman never looked rattled. He completed 30 of 47 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns, controlling the game with a level of poise that felt years ahead of schedule.
His sharpest sequence came in overtime, where he calmly guided a seven-play, 25-yard march that had none of the sloppiness or hesitation that plagued the fourth quarter. Every throw had intention. Every decision seemed to anticipate Louisville’s next move. Even his late-game incompletions were smart throwaways against heavy pressure rather than forced risks. Cal didn’t need flash; it needed steadiness. Sagapolutele supplied it.
If Sagapolutele set the tone, Jacob De Jesus carried the rhythm. Louisville had no answer for him at any level of the field. He finished with 16 catches for 158 yards and a touchdown, repeatedly becoming Cal’s release valve whenever a drive threatened to collapse.
His work in the intermediate zones consistently bailed out missed assignments and broken routes, and his feel for soft spots in coverage turned several third-and-longs into first downs. In overtime, his quick separations and short-yardage grabs gave Cal the stability it desperately needed. On a day where no other Cal receiver established consistent separation, De Jesus became the heartbeat of the offense.
Kendrick Raphael’s impact didn’t show up in big plays or highlight runs, but his 19 carries for 83 yards mattered in the overall structure of the game. Nearly every touch was a battle, yet he churned out enough four- and five-yard gains to keep the offense functional. His 1-yard touchdown plunge provided a key early spark and gave Cal balance when Louisville began tightening their coverage on De Jesus.
Cal finished with only 77 rushing yards. Most of them were earned the hard way. But Raphael’s ability to stay upright and avoid negative plays kept Cal from collapsing into one-dimensional predictability.
Louisville produced a box score that suggested control: 148 rushing yards, steady passing production, and several stretches of favorable field position. Keyjuan Brown tore through Cal for 136 yards, and for three quarters, Louisville looked capable of dictating tempo.
What they didn’t produce, however, were the game-changing moments. Cal’s defense consistently tightened in the red zone, disrupted timing on critical downs, and forced Louisville to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. Pass breakups stalled drives. Backfield penetration flipped sequences. A timely interception from Hezekiah Masses shifted momentum. Louisville moved the ball; it rarely moved the scoreboard.
The final quarter resembled a standoff more than a football game. After tying the score at 23 early in the period, both teams slipped into survival mode. Seven straight possessions ended in punts, each more conservative than the last. Cal’s drives totaled 1 yard, 8 yards, 32 yards, and minus-6 yards. Louisville fared no better.
Every snap carried tension. Every mistake felt potentially fatal. Neither offense trusted itself, and neither trusted its protection. The game slowed to a crawl, turning the fourth quarter into a prolonged waiting game for the first team bold enough — or composed enough — to break the pattern.
Louisville blinked first in overtime, opening with a four-play series that lost six yards and ended in a field goal that felt like a concession. It gave Cal an opening. Sagapolutele seized it.
He began the drive with an 8-yard completion that settled the offense, then mixed decisive short throws with steady runs from Raphael. Cal didn’t chase explosives. It didn’t need to. Each play chipped Louisville backward until the Bears were inside the five, where a composed finishing sequence ended the game and punctuated nearly an hour of attrition.
This wasn’t Cal at its sharpest. It wasn’t fluid. It wasn’t polished. But it demonstrated something far more important for a team in the middle of its development curve: the ability to hold its nerve when the rhythm disappears.
The Bears won because Sagapolutele played with veteran steadiness, because De Jesus refused to be contained, and because the defense delivered in the moments that mattered most. If Cal can continue winning games like this — ugly, tense, and decided late — then this performance isn’t a warning sign.
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