Cal ends SMU’s ACC title/CFP dreams in 38-35 upset

Win-and-in. The SMU Mustangs understood the task at hand during their West Coast business trip to Berkeley, CA for the regular season finale.

SMU was accustomed to winning conference matchups since joining the ACC, faring 14-1 in its first 15 — taking a 1-point loss to Wake Forest on a last-second field goal in October. The Mustangs were on the verge of their second-straight ACC Championship Game appearance, firmly in control of their own destiny for a second-straight College Football Playoff bid.

But a California squad freshly off the firing of 9-year head coach Justin Wilcox had other plans for the conference title matchup. The Golden Bears stunned the Mustangs 38-35 on senior day in Berkeley, taking SMU (8-4, 6-2 ACC) out of the running for an ACC championship and instead catapulting Duke (7-5, 6-2) into the title game to face Virginia (10-2, 6-2 ACC).

SMU faced an uphill climb in the second and third quarters, getting outscored 21-7 by the underdog Golden Bears during that middle stretch. Cal scored on the opening play of the fourth quarter, extending its lead to three possessions at 31-14 and placing the Mustangs’ ACC title hopes in dire position. However, Rhett Lashlee’s squad showed tremendous resiliency, rattling off three-consecutive fourth quarter touchdowns to capture a 35-31 lead.

T.J. Harden ran in the go-ahead score with 2:22 remaining in the contest, and all the Mustangs needed to do was produce a third-straight defensive stop. Instead, Cal flew down the field with ease, ripping off eight-straight positive plays including a pass interference in a 99-second drive. After true freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (330 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) completed a 23-yard strike to Cole Boscia to position the Golden Bears around the SMU 5-yard line, Kendrick Raphael punched in a short touchdown run with 43 seconds remaining, rewriting the score to 38-35.

SMU manufactured a few chunk plays in that limited time, as quarterback Kevin Jennings guided the Mustangs as far as the California 33-yard line with 16 seconds left. A critical sequence derailed SMU’s momentum when left tackle Savion Byrd was charged with a false start, forcing the Mustangs five yards back and exhausting the team’s final timeout to avoid a 10-second run-off. Two quick passes later (one short completion and one misfire), SMU set up for a 52-yard field goal, which would have been a career-long for freshman Sam Keltner. Keltner’s kick sailed wide left of the uprights, ultimately sealing SMU’s fate in terms of the ACC Championship Game and CFP.

Three of the Mustangs’ losses this year were kicking related, including Saturday night in Berkeley. In Week 2 vs. Baylor, SMU missed a game-winner at the end of regulation and another field goal in double-overtime, allowing Baylor to win on its own walk-off kick. In Week 9 at Wake Forest, SMU missed an extra point in the fourth quarter and Wake Forest capitalized with a 50-yard walk-off field goal in a 13-12 win.

California celebrated the Mustangs’ last-second miss with a raucous field storm, celebrating the program’s second ranked victory of the month of November — just two weeks after upsetting Louisville on the road in overtime.

California (7-5, 4-4 ACC) clinched its first winning season since 2019 and its first as a member of the ACC. The Golden Bears pulled off the upset under interim head coach Nick Rolovich, who will coach the team in their upcoming bowl game.

SMU (8-4, 6-2 ACC) fell to 14-2 in regular season ACC contests, falling excruciatingly short of a second-straight ACC Championship appearance in year two of the league. This marks the first time the Mustangs will not participate in conference championship weekend since 2022 and ends Lashlee’s 12-game win streak in November. SMU still has an opportunity to produce its first bowl win since 2013 and will receive its upcoming matchup on Sunday, Dec. 7.