Aside from a couple rotational players going down, USC has largely had good fortune this season in maintaining continuity among the offensive line.

Until last Saturday, that is.

Center Brett Neilon was forced out with a strained calf in the third quarter of the Trojans' 31-26 win at Arizona State and is set to be out "multiple weeks," according to coach Clay Helton.

It was an especially tricky moment for the Trojans as quarterback Kedon Slovis left the game with cramping in his calf on the same play, meaning the team was suddenly rolling out a new QB (Matt Fink) and new center (Justin Dedich) at the same time.

"I think it's very hard," offensive line coach Tim Drevno said. "It's like a quarterback. He's like a quarterback on the field, making all the line calls and stuff, and that defense we faced last week at Arizona State there's a lot of multiple, problematic looks that they gave us. So that's a tough job to come off the bench on."

Dedich, a redshirt freshman who competed with Neilon in the spring and summer for that job, and left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker both acknowledged there was an adjustment period for the rest of the unit following the change at center -- as is to be expected.

"We got out there, the communication was a little off, I guess you could say the connection between us," Vera-Tucker said Tuesday after practice. "Yesterday and today we got that fixed, and you'll see him do some great work Saturday."

Said Dedich: "The O-line is a big chemistry-based unit so me stepping in there might have been a little off at first because they've been practicing with Brett for 10 games, so I think this week of practice is going to be really good because they'll get used to my adjustments and all my calls and stuff."

It's interesting timing for the center to be in the spotlight this week as USC goes on the road to Cal. It was against the Golden Bears this time last year that 2018 starter Toa Lobendahn's season-long snapping issues culminated in a wayward snap over QB JT Daniels' head that led to a Cal safety early in the third quarter and swung momentum as the Trojans turned a two-touchdown lead into a 15-14 loss.

Slovis reminded reporters this week that he actually worked a lot with Dedich in the preseason before replacing Daniels as the starter halfway through the opener. He doesn't expect the snapping differences to be a factor this week.

"Very subtle, you don't really notice it until you're back there, but everyone snaps the ball a little differently -- just the spin, location. But by the end of the week it will be natural," Slovis said.

Drevno isn't worried about the snapping this week either -- that hasn't been a problem all season. The area of focus is more on the communication and keeping that unit cohesive with a new center making the pre-snap reads and calls.

Drevno put into perspective some of the challenges there.

"If something goes on with the front, something moves, we've got to hold the snap count to basically have body language to tell the guys that we are going to hold the snap count and a verbal cadence or something we do to tell them, 'Hey, we aren't ready to snap this thing. Kind of back off and hold up for a second,'" Drevno explained. "But I think those guys in the room coached him on what they wanted and [it] not so much came from me. That's really cool, because when those guys are controlling the room and coaching things up that's when things are really getting special."

Said Dedich: "Brett's a really good center. He makes really good calls and we sometimes see things different sometimes. Not every center is the same. It's just making sure that those guys realize I'm a little different than Brett in some areas, so hopefully this week we'll get used to it."

Dedich had actually entered the game earlier Saturday at right guard, subbing in on a few snaps for Jalen McKenzie. USC has had its other two backup right guards -- Andrew Vorhees and Liam Jimmons go down with season-ending injuries -- so Dedich was in line to get a little work there.

But he had only played 6 offensive line snaps all season before logging 31 Saturday. PFF College graded him out at a solid 75.3 for the game, crediting him with no allowed pressures and one penalty. He received an isolated 75.2 run-blocking grade and a 59.4 pass-blocking grade.

"It's definitely a different pace than practice sometimes because your adrenaline's going and you see the guys in front of you, but you've just got to take a deep breath, be calm, make the calls, make sure you're confident in your calls and the rest of the guys will play off that," Dedich said.

Added Drevno: "I thought he did an outstanding job, came in and I thought those guys are helping around him and understand we've got to all work together [as] one unit and have great communication, which we've been preaching this week, and talking to one another just to confirm that we are making the right calls."