Cal at No. 14 Louisville
Cal getting their sixth win and becoming bowl eligible had to feel good, especially with the win being on the road against a Top-25 opponent and coming in as a 20.5 point underdog. Cal got the ball to start the game but 12 plays later, sitting 4th and 21 just inside the Louisville red zone, their Junior Place Kicker Chase Meyer attempted and missed a 40 yard field goal. Not unusual for him as he has been perfect at all distances below 40 yards but is 8-of-11 on the year with all three misses between 40 to 49 yards. Ten plays and 78 yards later the Cardinals were on top 7-0 after a Miller Moss—yeah that Miller Moss—40 yard chunk pass from Cal’s 48 yard line deep into their red zone setting up a 7 yard pass and a 1 yard TD run by Louisville’s Sophomore RB Duke Watson. Cal would be held to a three-and-out on their next possession as would the Cardinals leaving the Golden Bears with just over two minutes left in the 1st Qtr. Just six plays later including a pass reception of 39 yards and a TD pass of 20 yards from Cal Freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele to Senior TE Landon Morris the score would be tied at seven each at the end of one.
The second quarter started out with back-to-back-to-back field goals, two for the Cardinals on either side of one for Cal to put Louisville up 13-10 and Cal in possession of the ball with 2:34 left in the half. With a couple of 20+ yard passes and two Louisville penalties Cal was able to work their way down field inside the Cardinals red zone where they hit pay dirt with a 2 yard TD run by Junior RB Kendrick Raphael to take the lead 17-13 at the half.
Louisville had the ball to start the 3rd Qtr but Miller Moss was intercepted at his own 37 yard line on their second play from scrimmage by Cal’s Senior DB Hezekiah Masses. Even though Cal had great field position to start their drive the Louisville defense dug in and stopped them cold just 10 yards later. Sitting 4th and 13 at the Cardinals 27 yard line Chase Meyer came in and made a rare 45 yard field goal for him to put Cal up 20-13. Eight plays and 75 yards later Miller Moss would try and make up for that interception by running one in himself to tie the game up at 20-20. Over seven minutes and thirteen plays later Chase Meyer would be back on the field for Cal. With the ball at a much more comfortable distance for him—the Louisville 8 yard line—Meyer would kick one in from 26 yards to put the Golden Bears back up 23-20 with time running out in the 3rd Qtr.
After the Cardinals tied the game up at 23 a piece to start the 4th Qtr on a 29 yard field goal by their Freshman Place Kicker Cooper Ranvier, the rest of the period turned into an incredible refuse to lose determination that led to seven consecutive punts, five by three-and-outs with the last by Cal with less than a minute left. Louisville had the ball but Moss was sacked on their first play, connected for a three yard pass on their second, and then threw back-to-back interceptions with time running out and the game tied 23-23. Louisville had the ball to start the overtime but due to an illegal block below the waist penalty by their Junior TE Nate Kurisky leaving them sitting 4th and 16 at the Cal 31 yard line, it was up to Ranvier to keep them in the game which he did by hitting a 49 yard field goal to put them back on top 26-23. After holding the Cardinals to just a field goal to start the overtime, even if it was due to a self-inflicted wound, Cal knew Bowl Eligibility was within their reach and seven plays later they were in the end zone with a 29-26 win on a 3 yard TD pass from Sagapolutele to Senior WR Jacob de Jesus.
For Cal, Freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele connected on 30-of-47 for 323 yards with no interceptions and 2 TD’s—the first to Senior TE Landon Morris and the second one in OT to their Senior WR Jacob de Jesus who also collected 158 of those receiving yards. Junior RB Kenyon Raphael was basically the whole show rushing 19 times for 83 yards and their only TD on the ground. For Louisville, if you’re a Trojan fan you no doubt have memories of the Cardinals’ QB Miller Moss as he was the backup for Caleb Williams at USC in 2022 and 2023. When Williams decided not to play for the Trojan’s in the 2023 Holiday Bowl and risk injury prior to the NFL Draft, Moss started and led them to a resounding 42-28 victory against this same Louisville team and while doing so set a Holliday Bowl record for touchdowns with six. The first game of 2024 in the Vegas Kickoff Classic he led them to another win against the LSU Tigers while completing 75% of this throws for 378 yards. Before being replaced by the Trojans current signal caller that year, Jayden Maiava, he racked up over 2,500 yards and 18 TD’s. Needless to say after he was replaced and started looking at other teams to play for, that Holiday Bowl defeat had not faded in the minds of the Cardinals. In this game he was 20-of-38 for 203 yards, no TD’s, and 1 pick. Sophomore RB Keyjuan Brown led the way on the ground for Louisville with 136 of their 148 rushing yards with Moss and Sophomore RB Duke Watson picking up a touchdown each. This was a tough loss for Louisville as a win would have kept them right up there tied with three other teams on top of the ACC conference. After taking a week off Cal heads 30 minutes south down to Palo Alto to take on Stanford.
Stanford at North Carolina
When two really bad offensive teams meet defense usually wins out and in spite of their horrible record so far Belichick’s Tar Heels only allow 21.3 points per game by their opponents. In this one they allowed even less and won their fourth game of the year 20-15 in spite of giving up back-to-back TD’s by Stanford in the fourth quarter. You really had to look hard to find any points at all on the board in the first half and if it wasn’t for each team’s place kicker it would have been just goose eggs. Punting after six plays into their first possession Stanford held the Tar Heels to a three-and-out but then fumbled three plays into the second possession and leaving North Carolina 1st and goal at the Cardinal 7 yard line. In spite of almost putting the ball in the end zone for them, North Carolina ended up 4th down and another yard back which led to the first points of the game on a 27 yard field goal by their Senior Place Kicker Rece Verhoff to go up 3-0. The Tar Heels did their best to reciprocate by fumbling six plays into their second possession of the second quarter, but Stanford missed their first chance at a field goal. After holding North Carolina to a three-and-out on their subsequent possession the Cardinal made their second attempt from 38 yards out by their Senior Place Kicker Emmet Kenney to tie the score at 3-3 with time expiring at the half.
North Carolina got the ball to start the second half and put together one of their best looking drives of the season, a 12 play, 75 yard, seven plus minute gem that landed in the end zone on a 20 yard TD pass from Sophomore QB Gio Lopez to RB Davion Gause to put the Tar Heels up 10-3. Stanford would get intercepted on the third play of their second drive leading to a 48 yard North Carolina field goal four plays later early in the 4th Qtr to increase their lead to 13-3. Holding the Cardinal to a three-and-out on their next possession, North Carolina would follow up with another score just three plays later on a 55 yard TD pass from Lopez to Jordan Shipp to go up 20-3. Stanford would score on back-to-back possessions taking up less than seven minutes in a hurried attempt to come back and win this one. But down by 17 their back-to-back TD’s would only get them to within five, 20-25, after two failed two-point conversions and giving them their seventh loss overall and fifth in the ACC—well on their way to matching their first year record in the ACC and last year record in the PAC-12. After a week off Stanford will host Cal back in Palo Alto.