Cal (4-1, 1-0) didn\u2019t clinch the victory until linebacker Luke Ferrelli intercepted a pass in the end zone with 15 seconds left, ending a promising threat by the Eagles (1-3, 0-1) at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass.<\/p>\n
After back-to-back false start penalties against the Bears from the 1-yard line and an offsides flag against the Eagles, Cal finally ran the clock out when Sagapolutele took a knee.<\/p>\n
Sagapolutele overcame an early interception and finished the game 22 for 34 for 254 yards with two touchdowns.<\/p>\n
His TD pass to wide-open Mini capped a nine-play, 88-yard drive that began with 4:48 to play.<\/p>\n
It was a much-needed victory for the Bears, who won their first three games this season<\/a> before absorbing a stunning 34-0 road loss<\/a> to 14-point underdog San Diego State last Saturday.<\/p>\n The teams played a scoreless third quarter before Cal took its first lead of the afternoon after a big play from cornerback Hezekiah Masses.<\/p>\n The Bears had been stopped on fourth-and-1 from the BC 3-yard line on the first play of the fourth period.<\/p>\n Two players later, Masses made his NCAA-leading fourth interception of the season, picking off Dylan Lonergan\u2019s pass at the 24 and returning it 22 yards to the 2.<\/p>\n Kendrick Raphael, who rushed for 113 yards, scored on first down, pushing Cal into a 24-21 lead with 13:47 left in the quarter.<\/p>\n But the lead didn\u2019t last. On BC\u2019s first-down play from its own 29, running back Turbo Richard broke out of a tackle attempt by linebacker Cade Uluave, found daylight and raced 71 yards to the end zone with 13:35 left.<\/p>\n The Eagles entered the game averaging just 73 rushing yards per game \u2014 worst in the ACC \u2014 but Richard ran for 171 yards and two TDs.<\/p>\n Cal got a chance to potentially regain the lead, but Sagapolutele was stopped inches short on a fourth-and-1 sneak from the BC 29 with 8:11 to play.<\/p>\n The Bears battled back from a quick 14-0 hole to tie the score before Boston College went back in front on a 52-yard field goal by Luca Lombardo with 37 seconds left in the half.<\/p>\n BC got the opening kickoff and went 84 yards in 12 plays, with Lonergan completing 6 of 8 passes for 65 yards before scoring on a 7-yard dash to the right with 8:56 to go in the first quarter.<\/p>\n BC got the ball right back when Sagapolultele, being pressured, threw into some traffic and was picked off by Omar Thornton at the Bears\u2019 27-yard line. Two plays later, Richard rambled 27 yards for the touchdown as the Eagles scored 14 points in a span of 69 seconds.<\/p>\n But Cal responded. The Bears answered with an 12-play, 75-yard drive that was triggered by a 29-yard completion to Trond Grizzell to the BC 38-yard line.<\/p>\n Trying to establish a ground game that has not often functioned this season, Cal ran the ball 10 times on the drive, with LJ Johnson powering over the middle on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 1:05 left in the quarter.<\/p>\n The Bears forced a punt and then drove 84 yards in 12 plays, this time allowing Sagapolutele to carry the load. He was 7 for 7 for 50 yards, getting the final 5 yards on a pass to Jacob De Jesus, who lined up to the right and crossed the end zone to the left to get open for the score with 3:46 left in the half.<\/p>\n Originally Published: September 27, 2025 at 4:24 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cal finally won a close one. After dropping four straight games by a combined nine points last season,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":259921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1360,136304,1428,1369,1318,1362,1370,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-259920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-cal-bears","9":"tag-cal-football","10":"tag-college-football","11":"tag-college-sports","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-inside-sports","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-ncaa","16":"tag-ncaa-football","17":"tag-ncaafootball","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115278891353193571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"California](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BNG-L-CALFBC-09282-1.jpg\")
California quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (3) and wide receiver Jacob De Jesus (21) celebrates after a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA football game against Boston College on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Chestnut Hill, Mass. (AP Photo\/Greg M. Cooper)\u00a0<\/p>\n