LOS ANGELES -- California headed into Thursday night’s game at USC with a legitimate gripe, but it’s doubtful a little extra rest would have solved its defensive problems in 45-24 thrashing at the hands of the Trojans.

Just six days prior, the Bears played a double-overtime game against Oregon, which gave them just five days before their trip to the Coliseum to play USC. Back-to-back weekday games on short rest is obviously less than ideal -- especially considering the Bears ran a record 118 offensive plays against the Ducks and some players are dealing with midterms -- but what made the situation unique is that USC was also coming off a bye.

According to the Bay Area News Group, no team in Pac-12 history had ever been forced to play on a short week against a team coming off a bye. In NBA parlance, it was like the third game of a back-to-back-to-back set. It doesn’t happen, and shouldn’t happen.

Not that it would have made much of a difference.

Sam Darnold threw for five touchdowns for a second game in a row Thursday to lead USC to its fourth straight victory after a 1-3 start. Harry How/Getty Images

Even with ample rest, Cal’s rush defense is dreadful, and it’s hard to imagine the Bears would have fared much better against the USC offense or running back Ronald Jones II if the game had been played a day or two later. In the first half, the Trojans amassed the most yards by a Pac-12 team in a half this season (451) and finished with the most they’ve had in a conference game (629) since 2005, when Reggie Bush was still on the team.

Jones’ career-high 223 yards on 18 carries was the most by a USC running back since Allen Bradford also rushed for 223 yards against Washington in 2010 and Aca'Cedric Ware added 130 yards on 20 carries, his second consecutive games of more than 100 yards.

The Trojans (5-3, 4-2 Pac-12) remain a game behind both Colorado and Utah in the loss column in the South Division, but, at the moment, are clearly the best team in the Pac-12 not named Washington. And in two weeks, the Trojans travel to Husky Stadium for what has the potential to be a conference title-game preview.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott acknowledged he understood concerns voiced by Cal coach Sonny Dykes about the circumstances, but said the scheduling parameters were heavily vetted by the conference’s athletic directors. Those parameters prevent a team from playing with just four days between games and do not take into account how much rest the other team has.

“This is not ideal from a coach’s perspective especially when you think about competitive equity,” Scott said. “Our coaches are the best at what they do and they look for every little detail and every little edge. I completely get it and that’s why we’re not making this stuff up as we go along. That’s why there are agreed scheduling parameters before the season.”

He alluded to possible discussions during the spring meetings to prevent such a scenario in the future.