Cal's offensive line expected to lead way

By Jay Heater
Knight Ridder
When Sacramento State football coach Steve Mooshagian talks about his team's game against Cal today at Memorial Stadium as being a David vs. Goliath matchup, he must be thinking of the Bears' offensive line.
Cal's Marvin Philip was ranked by The Sporting News as the No. 1 center in the country this season. Right tackle Ryan O'Callaghan is a returning first-team All-Pacific-10 Conference selection who figures to be a high NFL draft choice. Left tackle Andrew Cameron is a 305-pounder whom Cal Coach Jeff Tedford calls a dominant force.
And after that wall of humanity comes crashing down upon the Division I-AA Hornets' defensive line, Heisman Trophy candidate Marshawn Lynch will be coming at them with the ball in his hands.
Even so, Mooshagian said his team isn't going to back down. ``We understand the challenge,'' said Mooshagian, a former teammate of Tedford's at Cerritos College and Fresno State. ``We played Oregon State two years ago and they had Steven Jackson. We held him to 108 yards rushing. We've been in these situations before.''
The Hornets lost that game 40-7, and Tedford isn't the kind of guy to worry about yards if his team wins by 33.
The Bears are breaking in 13 new starters in their season-opener today, so Tedford would like to see things go smoothly, especially up front. ``I look for our offensive line to be even stronger this year,'' he said. ``O'Callaghan is a dominant player, Cameron is a dominant player, then there's Marvin. We expect our offensive line to set the tone every game. They can set our intensity by how physical they play.''
The Bears' linemen understand they will be breaking in a new quarterback in Nate Longshore, a new starting tailback in Lynch and a mostly new wide-receivers corps. ``We are going to concentrate on firing out and dominating,'' said junior guard Erik Robertson, the only new starter on the unit. ``We will put people on their backs, hopefully, trying to run it down their throats. The great thing about this coaching staff is that if we can get a lead, they will let us run it, run it, run it.''
Mooshagian doesn't expect Cal to fall back much despite losing key skill-position players. ``I don't think there will be much of a drop-off from last season,'' Mooshagian said. ``They are an eight-cylinder team learning how to fire on all cylinders.''
And even if Cal makes some mistakes, Mooshagian is aware that his team is a huge underdog. ``I talked to Jeff and asked him if we could use 12 players to his 11,'' he said. ``We have a group of players who will be nervous seeing that environment. But you get hit in the Adam's apple, you forget all that. And nobody gave the U.S. hockey team a chance to beat the Russians. This is a David and Goliath battle. We just need to focus on our job.''
Cal linebacker Ryan Foltz said the Hornets will have a hard time trying to focus with the Bears' offensive line coming at them. ``Our offensive line is unbelievably good,'' Foltz said. ``They are big, fast and strong -- everything you want your line to be. And any time you have an offensive line that can dominate up front, it keeps your defense fresh.''
Foltz did say that Sacramento State has plenty of solid athletes. ``They have four wide receivers who all look pretty good,'' he said.
• Cal wide receiver Lavelle Hawkins is ineligible for the opener because he left Louisiana State less than a calendar year from today's game. Hawkins will be eligible for Cal's game at Washington next Saturday.