Cal Just Put 49 on the Board Without Punting Once. Kingston Lopa Is the Reason You Should Be Scared of the Rest.

2nd-and-4 from the Wagner 28, six minutes into the game, no huddle. Adam Mohammed took the handoff right, hit the edge, and nobody in a green jersey touched him until he was standing in the end zone. Twenty-eight yards, 7–0, and the afternoon was already over. I was in the building for that one and I can tell you the crowd knew it before the officials did.

That is the version of Cal football I drove up to see. Cal 49, Wagner 7, and the score undersells it. The Bears scored a touchdown on every one of their first four possessions, went up 29–0 before the first quarter ended, and never punted the ball a single time. Cal had not done that since 2017. The 626 total yards were the most in a game since 2023. This was a program flexing.

The quarterback and the running back

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele finished 27-of-33 for 413 yards and three touchdowns, a career

high, and he was done before the third quarter got old. Watch how he handled the second drive. Cal opened it with a false start, faced 1st-and-15 from its own 15, and JKS just kept moving the chains with the short stuff to Chase Hendricks and Jordan King until Mohammed walked in from six yards. Eleven plays, 80 yards. That is a quarterback commanding an offense, not just throwing to it.

Mohammed was the staple. The Washington transfer went for 91 yards on 13 carries with two rushing scores, then caught a short pass in the left flat and took it 65 yards for his third touchdown of the first quarter. Three touchdowns before the second quarter started. He runs through arm tackles, he bounces it outside when the middle closes, and he catches the ball like a receiver. Wagner had no answer for him because there wasn't one. He crossed 1,001 career rushing yards on the day.

Kyion Grayes got the play everybody will remember, an 80-yard catch-and-run that started as a short throw to the left and ended on the right sideline with Ian Strong throwing the block that sprung it. Cooper Perry caught his first career touchdown on a 16-yarder in the second quarter. Hendricks quietly caught nine balls. This offense has weapons at every level of the depth chart.

The rotation was the real story

This is the part you don't get from a box score. Coach Tosh Lupoi, two weeks removed from his first career win at Syracuse, emptied the bench in the second half and the backups played like they'd been waiting all week for it.

Ashten Emory, No. 20, got the ball on 4th-and-1 from the Cal 30 in the third quarter and got two yards through the middle to keep the drive alive. Six plays later he ran it in from the 8 for his first touchdown as a Golden Bear. Tough, physical, goal-line football. Carson Perry-Smith, No. 21, got four carries and ran hard on every one of them.

Then there was Anthony League, No. 25. Third-and-2 from the Wagner 2, Jackson Brousseau in at quarterback. League released to the right, caught the ball at the 1, and crossed the goal line. The stadium erupted. Then the flag came out. Face mask on the offense, 15 yards, no play. Cal ended up turning it over on downs. The touchdown never counted, but the guys on that sideline knew what they saw. League finished with five carries and two catches, and that drive told you everything about how this staff is developing the whole roster.

Nobody looked like a backup out there. That is what a culture looks like when it takes.

Kingston Lopa is a problem

Let me say this plainly, and you can tell me I'm wrong in the comments. Kingston Lopa is the best safety in college football right now, and by the time this season ends I think you'll be talking about him the way we talked about Ed Reed and Earl Thomas coming out of school. I have watched a lot of safeties over a lot of years. This kid changes how you have to call a game.

Here is what he did Saturday. Second-and-10 from the Wagner 28, early in the third quarter, Benjamin Newman threw it and Lopa took it away at the 29 and returned it 27 yards to the Wagner 2. That was his fifth interception of the season, the most in the FBS, and it came one week after he picked off Syracuse three times in one game. He also led Cal with five tackles and broke up a deep ball to Malik Redd in the second quarter.

The frame is what makes it unfair. Lopa is 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, a redshirt sophomore from Grant High in Sacramento who transferred in from Oregon after two seasons off the bench. He can play the deep middle, he can roll to either hash, and he can walk down into the box and stop the run. Saturday he did all of it. You cannot game plan around one spot on the field because he is not staying in one spot. If you're an offensive coordinator with Cal on the schedule, find No. 2 before you call the play. Every play.

What the sideline told me

I got to talk with a few of the players after the game. What stood out was how locked in they stayed after the outcome was decided. Nobody was on the bench scrolling. Guys were on their feet for the backups, grinning, chirping, coaching each other up. You can read body language, and this team's body language says they believe in what Lupoi is building. That is not something you can install. It has to grow.

Several recruits were in the stands Saturday, and if I were one of them, this is exactly the kind of game I'd want to see: a staff that plays its depth, an offense that scores from anywhere, and a defense with a superstar at the back end.

Go see it yourself

Cal is 2–1 and 1–0 in the ACC. The next test is a big one. Clemson comes to Memorial Stadium Friday night, September 25, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. Wagner is an FCS program and Clemson is not, so Friday is the real measuring stick for how good this team actually is. I think they keep it close. Argue with me.

If you haven't been to a Cal game this season, fix that. Wear your walking shoes, because the climb up to the stadium is real. Once you're up there, it is one of the best settings in college football: the town, the fans, the staff, the whole thing. Go Bears.

Then come back here and tell me what you saw. Drop a comment on the player who stood out to you, subscribe so you don't miss the Clemson breakdown, and check the RepMax recruiting database to see which prospects are tracking Cal right now.

Sources

Cal Athletics game recap, "JKS, Bears Overwhelm Wagner": https://calbears.com/news/2026/9/20/football-jks-bears-overwhelm-wagner

Cal Athletics postgame notes, Cal 49, Wagner 7: https://calbears.com/news/2026/9/19/football-postgame-notes-cal-49-wagner-7

Official box score and play-by-play: https://calbears.com/sports/football/stats/2026/wagner/boxscore/38593

Cal Athletics, Lupoi's first career win at Syracuse: https://calbears.com/news/2026/9/12/football-lupoi-records-first-career-win-after-gritty-performance

Kingston Lopa player page, Cal Athletics: https://calbears.com/sports/football/roster/kingston-lopa/27633

ESPN final, California 49, Wagner 7: https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401858233/wagner-california