By Ben Feder, Cal Athletic Communications
It all started from an Ozzy Osbourne song.
At the beginning of fall camp, the offensive line was hanging out in the locker room listening to the song War Pigs by Ozzy Osbourne. It was from there that the rallying cry took off.
“They just come up in the meeting room and said, ‘hey coach, we’re war pigs,” said offensive line coach Zach Yenser. “They started taking it on and we started having fun with it and the guys got shirts with their nicknames on the back.”
Whether or not credit is due to Osbourne, one thing that is clear is that these war pigs have made huge strides in 2014.
This year, the offensive line – made up of sophomore left tackle Steven Moore, sophomore left guard Chris Borrayo, senior center Chris Adcock, senior right guard Alejandro Crosthwaite and junior right tackle Jordan Rigsbee – has helped pave the way for an offense that enters the 117th Big Game against Stanford on Saturday averaging 40.7 points per game, ninth in the nation.
Last year, the offensive line struggled to stay healthy and was forced to play from behind nearly every game, resulting in an abandoned run game and a pass-heavy offense.
2014 has been a different story.
Daniel Lasco, the Golden Bears' redshirt junior running back, has reaped the benefits of an improved offensive line. Lasco is just 118 yards away from becoming Cal’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Isi Sofele in 2011.
“Without them, especially in this offense, none of the high scoring and big stats would hold true,” Lasco said.
The War Pigs have started nine of the 10 games together this year and credit the continuity and experience for the unit’s success.
“It’s definitely helpful for me, especially playing on the left side with Borrayo, just trying to get all of our calls down,” Moore said. “We’ve just been on the same page in terms of figuring out where we’re going so that our run game has improved also.”
During the offseason, Yenser challenged his guys to continue to build and get better. He knew that the Bears had to be able to run the football.
“He told us we can’t be one dimensional,” Crosthwaite said. “We can’t just pass the ball. That gets the defensive linemen teeing off on us and we have to be able to run the ball so they don’t know what’s coming.”
Lasco remembers his performance against Oregon State on just under three weeks ago as the game where it all came together, both for him and the offensive line. The Bears went on the road to Corvalis, Ore., and came away with a 45-31 win. Lasco ran wild against the Beavers setting career highs with 30 carries for 188 yards and three touchdowns.
After the game, Lasco gave all the credit to his guys up front, saying none of this would be possible without them. He called their performance simply remarkable.
“He makes us look good and we make him look good,” Yenser said. “We’re a combination of each other. We always talk about how the running back is an extension of us.”
Tomorrow, the War Pigs will face its toughest challenge yet, this time against the Stanford Cardinal and their ninth-ranked rushing defense in the country.
Saturday’s game will kickoff at 1 p.m. from Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium and will be televised on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes.
