USC center Toa Lobendahn made his way methodically through the postgame food line, knowing what awaited up the hill. Acknowledging the waiting reporters, he grabbed what he needed from the drinks cooler and then turned to take the questions.
Continuing his season-long struggles snapping the football, Lobendahn had sent a snap sailing over quarterback JT Daniels early in the third quarter resulting in a Cal safety from a play that had started on the 22-yard line.
USC had seemed in full control of the game to that point with the visiting Golden Bears unable to get anything going offensively. But that was their spark -- those first two points quickly turning into 15 all in the third quarter on the way to an eventual 15-14 Cal win.
His teammates wouldn't say it afterward, but the game pivoted on that errant snap.
"Nobody's going to get on me like that because they want to stay out of my head like that. But I'm definitely mad at myself," Lobendahn said.
Head coach Clay Helton, who has been asked time and again this fall if he would consider making a change at center due to the snapping issues, was asked frankly Saturday night why he hadn't done so to this point, when many perceived the likelihood of one of those errant snaps ultimately undermining a game as it did this time.
Helton remained steadfast in his support of Lobendahn.
"Toa Lobendahn is a man of honor and a great football player, and I'm sorry that the snap went over our head," Helton said. "I know he's worked tirelessly on it. He's our best center. He's our best man at that position. ... There was 74 snaps tonight and 73 of them were perfect and we were able to function, and we had one that went over our head. Toa is one of the loves of my life, and he will be our center."
Lobendahn, one of USC's senior captains, took every question that was lobbed his way, including one about whether he himself has felt at any point this season that center wasn't his best fit on the offensive line.
"I mean, that's always running through my head, I guess, but I'm just trying to focus on my job and make sure I do it right," he said rather candidly. "I'm not trying to take any of my other guys' jobs. Yeah, I'm just focusing on what I need to do to get better."
In response to a follow-up question, he said he had not had any conversations with the coaching staff about seeking a position change.
Lobendahn has changed his grip to try to correct the struggles, going with what is known as a dead ball snap -- where the center holds the elevated end of the ball closest to him as it angles downward from there.
"I felt good all week with it, and then there will just be like points in the game where my grip won't feel like all the way there I guess. And that's what kind of happened on that one," he said, noting he could tell when it left his hand that it was at least somewhat off.
"A little bit, but I didn't think it was that bad. I thought it was like a little bit high, but I didn't think it was anything that out of reach. ... I think my fingers just caught too much of it, and that's why it just went up a little bit more."
USC went from leading 14-0 to Cal seizing the momentum shift, collecting those two points, returning the ensuing kickoff 34 yards to midfield and scoring four plays later on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Chase Garbers to Vic Wharton III. After an interception by JT Daniels on the next series that set the Golden Bears up at the USC 40, the visitors scored against on a 9-play touchdown drive to take that 15-14 lead.
Just like that, the game had pivoted.
Lobendahn said his teammates were "definitely angry" on the sideline after the safety, but they understandably remained supportive of him.
Left guard Chris Brown remained deferential to his fellow senior teammate, but the sting of the loss tinged his words nonetheless.
"I wouldn't say that like any hope was lost, but it's just like pretty inconvenient to switch the field back to them. Obviously those two points gave them the win pretty much, but yeah, it sucks," he said. "We try to keep his head up, 'Stay positive, get some snaps whenever you can, every time you come off the sideline, get some snaps, get it right.' We certainly don't say anything negative. It's not who we are. ...
"He's always like pretty collected, but you could tell he knew it was a bad mistake. I could tell it affected him, but he's the center, he's our leader and I could tell that it affected him. But he's like a next play type of guy."
Daniels, meanwhile, deflected the significance of the moment while putting the culpability for the collapse on the entire offense.
"I really don't think it did," he said when asked why the safety changed the game so significantly. "It wasn't like safety got us all out of a groove. We weren't fighting on the sideline because we had one bad snap. The next possession they score a touchdown, the next possession the nickel makes a good play, they score another touchdown. ... It goes back to the same thing -- one of us messing up and we don't it manage well as an offense. It's an offensive thing."
USC is now 5-5 overall and 4-4 in the Pac-12, its already outside chance at making the conference title game now gone and its bowl eligibility in jeopardy with UCLA and Notre Dame remaining on the schedule.
Lobendahn, as the only voted captain from the offense, was asked what he'll say to the team moving forward.
"It's been a hard season so it's hard to have the right thing to say," he said. "We don't have all the answers, but I feel like we started off really good in that first half and we just didn't finish in the second half when we needed to. We've got some of the pieces, but we've just got to put it all together."
Continuing his season-long struggles snapping the football, Lobendahn had sent a snap sailing over quarterback JT Daniels early in the third quarter resulting in a Cal safety from a play that had started on the 22-yard line.
USC had seemed in full control of the game to that point with the visiting Golden Bears unable to get anything going offensively. But that was their spark -- those first two points quickly turning into 15 all in the third quarter on the way to an eventual 15-14 Cal win.
His teammates wouldn't say it afterward, but the game pivoted on that errant snap.
"Nobody's going to get on me like that because they want to stay out of my head like that. But I'm definitely mad at myself," Lobendahn said.
Head coach Clay Helton, who has been asked time and again this fall if he would consider making a change at center due to the snapping issues, was asked frankly Saturday night why he hadn't done so to this point, when many perceived the likelihood of one of those errant snaps ultimately undermining a game as it did this time.
Helton remained steadfast in his support of Lobendahn.
"Toa Lobendahn is a man of honor and a great football player, and I'm sorry that the snap went over our head," Helton said. "I know he's worked tirelessly on it. He's our best center. He's our best man at that position. ... There was 74 snaps tonight and 73 of them were perfect and we were able to function, and we had one that went over our head. Toa is one of the loves of my life, and he will be our center."
Lobendahn, one of USC's senior captains, took every question that was lobbed his way, including one about whether he himself has felt at any point this season that center wasn't his best fit on the offensive line.
"I mean, that's always running through my head, I guess, but I'm just trying to focus on my job and make sure I do it right," he said rather candidly. "I'm not trying to take any of my other guys' jobs. Yeah, I'm just focusing on what I need to do to get better."
In response to a follow-up question, he said he had not had any conversations with the coaching staff about seeking a position change.
Lobendahn has changed his grip to try to correct the struggles, going with what is known as a dead ball snap -- where the center holds the elevated end of the ball closest to him as it angles downward from there.
"I felt good all week with it, and then there will just be like points in the game where my grip won't feel like all the way there I guess. And that's what kind of happened on that one," he said, noting he could tell when it left his hand that it was at least somewhat off.
"A little bit, but I didn't think it was that bad. I thought it was like a little bit high, but I didn't think it was anything that out of reach. ... I think my fingers just caught too much of it, and that's why it just went up a little bit more."
USC went from leading 14-0 to Cal seizing the momentum shift, collecting those two points, returning the ensuing kickoff 34 yards to midfield and scoring four plays later on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Chase Garbers to Vic Wharton III. After an interception by JT Daniels on the next series that set the Golden Bears up at the USC 40, the visitors scored against on a 9-play touchdown drive to take that 15-14 lead.
Just like that, the game had pivoted.
Lobendahn said his teammates were "definitely angry" on the sideline after the safety, but they understandably remained supportive of him.
Left guard Chris Brown remained deferential to his fellow senior teammate, but the sting of the loss tinged his words nonetheless.
"I wouldn't say that like any hope was lost, but it's just like pretty inconvenient to switch the field back to them. Obviously those two points gave them the win pretty much, but yeah, it sucks," he said. "We try to keep his head up, 'Stay positive, get some snaps whenever you can, every time you come off the sideline, get some snaps, get it right.' We certainly don't say anything negative. It's not who we are. ...
"He's always like pretty collected, but you could tell he knew it was a bad mistake. I could tell it affected him, but he's the center, he's our leader and I could tell that it affected him. But he's like a next play type of guy."
Daniels, meanwhile, deflected the significance of the moment while putting the culpability for the collapse on the entire offense.
"I really don't think it did," he said when asked why the safety changed the game so significantly. "It wasn't like safety got us all out of a groove. We weren't fighting on the sideline because we had one bad snap. The next possession they score a touchdown, the next possession the nickel makes a good play, they score another touchdown. ... It goes back to the same thing -- one of us messing up and we don't it manage well as an offense. It's an offensive thing."
USC is now 5-5 overall and 4-4 in the Pac-12, its already outside chance at making the conference title game now gone and its bowl eligibility in jeopardy with UCLA and Notre Dame remaining on the schedule.
Lobendahn, as the only voted captain from the offense, was asked what he'll say to the team moving forward.
"It's been a hard season so it's hard to have the right thing to say," he said. "We don't have all the answers, but I feel like we started off really good in that first half and we just didn't finish in the second half when we needed to. We've got some of the pieces, but we've just got to put it all together."
