Syracuse squanders double-digit lead, falls to Cal 21-18 for 1st 2026 loss
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Syracuse had every chance to win Saturday evening. Every chance to start the 2026 season 2-0. Every chance to snap a seven-game Atlantic Coast Conference losing streak.
Just take a look at the box score. The Orange had 436 total yards to Cal’s 249. Steve Angeli threw nearly double the number of yards as Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. SU’s defense forced seven punts and allowed 14 points.
Those numbers should’ve been more than enough for Syracuse to defeat the Golden Bears for its first ACC victory in 11 months. But the Orange (1-1, 0-1 ACC) shot themselves in the foot constantly in a 21-18 loss to Cal (1-1, 1-0 ACC) Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Syracuse had numerous chances to break away. The Orange led for the majority of the game. They went 0-for-2 on two-point conversions and missed two field goals. They settled for three points on numerous red zone trips. They had a punt return touchdown called back, one of 15 penalties that cost the Orange 132 yards. Angeli threw three interceptions — all to Cal’s Kingston Lopa — including a 24-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter that was the difference in the game.
“Our team still has to learn how to win,” Orange head coach Fran Brown said postgame. “We have to be able to fight, to win and keep growing.
“I gotta coach better,” Brown added. “(There are) some things that I need to do better to be able to put our team in positions and go out and win.”
It looked like a favorable matchup on paper. The Orange ran all over New Hampshire in Week 1, and Cal — which allowed 277 yards and six touchdowns on the ground to UCLA last week — certainly wasn’t the best against the run. But SU ran for just 118 yards on 3.3 yards per carry. Angeli threw for 306 yards but made some crucial mistakes, costing Syracuse a shot late.
“Just bad throws,” Brown said of Angeli’s interceptions. “Didn’t throw to the right guy.”
It never really looked uncomfortable until the second half. The Orange jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the second quarter after two Tripp Woody field goals and a 23-yard touchdown pass from Angeli to Daunte Bacheyie.
Meanwhile, the Golden Bears punted on their first two drives and missed a 46-yard field goal on the third. They didn’t get on the board until the 7:15 mark in the second, after Sagapolutele found Ian Strong for 43 yards before a 14-yard touchdown pass to Chase Hendricks.
That’s how it stood at halftime. Cal received the kickoff and was promptly stuffed on a fourth-down try. But Angeli and the Orange couldn’t capitalize on a short field, as he tossed his first interception on the seventh play of the drive.
And six plays later, Cal had the lead. Sagapolutele dished two quick connections outside the numbers to Strong and Hendricks before finding Jordan King two yards out for the go-ahead score. Halfway through the third, Syracuse trailed for the first time all season.
That didn’t last long. The Orange marched 75 yards in five and a half minutes, with Ju’Juan Johnson punching in a two-yard touchdown run for his first SU score. A big third-down connection between Angeli and Bacheyie kept the drive alive, while Johnson took five carries for 24 yards and the score.
Syracuse looked to have iced the game in the final seconds of the third, as Demetres Samuel Jr. took a punt return down the left sideline into the end zone. But another untimely call — this time, an illegal block in the back — brought it back.
“We might be a little more undisciplined than I thought,” Brown said postgame. “We can’t have that many penalties. We can’t do that. We won’t be able to win a football game.”
The Orange tried to make the most of the drive and returned to field-goal range after two 15-yard personal foul penalties and a big third-down snag from Justus Ross-Simmons. But the Orange, again, fizzled out in the red zone, settling for a 31-yard attempt from Woody that clattered off the left upright.
“Those two field goals help us win the football game. But there’s things that I need to do from the offensive perspective of continuing to push to put it in,” Brown said. “(We) shouldn’t have been in that situation for it to come down to those guys.”
Sagapolutele immediately responded, going deep to Mason Mini for 38 yards to put the Golden Bears in field-goal territory. But Chris D’Appolonia got home for a crucial second-down sack, diffusing the threat and ultimately leading to Cal’s sixth punt.
Syracuse tried running the clock as much as possible. But after two Shavane Anderson Jr. carries went nowhere, Cal turned the game upside down with Lopa’s pick-six. Angeli simply never saw the defensive back while targeting Darius Johnson over the middle. Lopa trotted into the right side of the end zone to put Cal up 21-18.
The Orange made it interesting when Angeli made a miraculous throw to Ross-Simmons while getting blasted out of bounds on a third-and-13 from around midfield. It gave SU a fresh set of downs at the Golden Bears’ 24-yard line.
Yet it didn’t amount to anything. Angeli misfired a few passes and was sacked. Woody was well short on a game-tying 46-yard attempt.
In the final minutes, SU’s defense got off the field again, granting the offense another shot to win. Angeli hit Ross-Simmons down the sideline for 23 yards. Syracuse had a lifeline.
There was hope.
One snap later, Angeli looked right and uncorked a shot toward Bacheyie. It was well short. Right into the arms of Lopa, the bane of Syracuse’s existence Saturday.
It ended in the way it always felt it would. An opportunity squandered for Syracuse.
