BERKELEY — It was all working for Cal on Saturday night against Duke at Memorial Stadium.
Freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele led the Bears on lengthy drives for touchdowns on their first three possessions, producing a 21-7 lead barely two minutes into the second quarter.
But the Blue Devils, making their first visit to Berkeley since 1963 when Craig Morton was a junior quarterback for the Bears, scored the final 24 points of the second quarter on the way to a 45-21 victory.
It was a painful tease for the 42,240 fans who had visions of Cal’s first 5-1 start to a season in 10 years. Instead, the Bears (4-2, 1-1 ACC) go into their bye week having absorbed their first home defeat of the season.
They return to action on Friday, Oct. 17 at home against coach Bill Belichick’s North Carolina team.
Duke (4-2, 3-0), powered by Tulane transfer quarterback Darian Mensah, shredded Cal’s defense in the second quarter. He finished 22 for 30 for 265 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers.
Sagapolutele’s performance was split into two distinct segments.
Two plays before Kendrick Raphael’s 4-yard touchdown run made it 21-7 with 12:17 left in the second quarter, Sagapolutele tried scrambling on a broken play and came up limping after a 1-yard gain.
He was 13 for 16 for 168 yards and a touchdown to that point.
But Duke came hard after him the rest of the night, sacking him a season-high six times and intercepting him three times. Whether that was a function of Sagapolutele’s diminished mobility or a breakdown of the offensive line, the Bears did not score again.
Cal lifted Sagapolutele after Duke extended its lead to 24 points. He wound up 20 for 31 for 245 yards. Backup Devin Brown came on with 5:45 left and was promptly intercepted.
The teams played scoreless football in the third quarter before the Blue Devils put the game out of reach with a pair of fourth-quarter TDs.
The Bears’ offense appeared almost unstoppable early, producing touchdowns on drives of 75, 55 and 80 yards to start the game.
But the Blue Devils, trailing 21-7 early in the second quarter, scored the final 24 points of the half to take a 31-21 advantage into intermission.
Sagapolutele threw a 6-yard TD pass to wide receiver Jordan King on the game’s opening possession and Raphael had TD runs of 5 and 4 yards.
The Bears accumulated 206 yards on their first three series. They had just 80 yards the rest of the night.
When Sagapolutele came up limping after a scramble on a broken play. Cal called timeout but he returned to the field and got the Bears into the end zone again.
The rest of the half, facing a more aggressive Duke pass rush, Sagapolutele was sacked three times, intercepted once and threw incomplete on his only other attempt.
Duke, meanwhile, found its rhythm on offense, scoring 24 points in the final 7:47 of the half. Mensah heated up, completing 10 of 12 passes for 154 yards on the Blue Devils’ final four possessions of the quarter as Cal managed generated only a minimal pass rush.
The Blue Devils’ Que’Sean Brown caught a 26-yard scoring pass from Mensah to tie the game at 21-21 with 5:50 left in the opening half.
Anderson Castle then gave Duke its first lead when he rammed in from the 1-yard line for a 28-21 advantage with 1:10 left in the half.
After Cal went three and out and punted, Duke moved into position for Todd Pelino to convert a 25-yard field goal as the first half ended.