A day after Cal’s baffling 59-20 loss to SMU the head-scratching continues.

How could Cal (3-5) play its best half of the season by far, on the road, against the 23rd-ranked team in the country, take a break, then play its worst half of the season by far?

Cal produced 255 yards of offense to SMU’s 186 and had 14 first downs to SMU’s 11 while taking a 20-17 halftime lead.

Then in the second half the Bears had 50 yards of offense to SMU’s 306 and had two first downs to SMU’s 20 (and both Cal first downs came after SMU had taken a 38-20 lead) while getting outscored 42-0 in the second half.

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was great in the first half, when he was 19-for-23 for 214 yards and a touchdown, but he was 8-for-14 for 51 yards and no touchdowns in the second half.

What happened? Did somebody spike the Bears’ water at halftime?

Let’s spitball some possible explanations.

---Cal ran out of gas.…