LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A quick start by host USC dug an early hole that the Cal football team couldn't climb out of as the Bears fell 45-24 to the Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Davis Webb led the Bears on the stat sheet, completing 34 of 53 passes for 333 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for a score. Khalfani Muhammad rushed for 89 yards on 15 carries while Melquise Stovall hauled in a career-high nine passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. USC outgained Cal 629-475 behind 223 rushing yards from Ronald Jones II.

Cal (4-4, 2-3 Pac-12) couldn't establish its usual rhythm on offense early, and USC (5-3, 4-2) capitalized to take the lead. A 61-yard run by Jones got the Trojans started on their first drive and quarterback Sam Darnold found Darreus Rogers on an inside slant for a 3-yard touchdown.

A 16-yard screen pass from Darnold to Jones put USC ahead 14-0 at the end of a quarter. The Trojans extended that advantage with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Darnold to Deontay Burnett early in the second quarter.

The Bears began to take a bit of momentum back thanks to a pair of big plays by their defense. A fumble forced by DeVante Wilson landed in the hands of James Looney, and after Looney returned it to the USC 22, Cal took just two plays to get on the scoreboard. Webb faked left before turning right to find Tre Watson for a screen pass that turned into a 22-yard score and made the score 21-7.

Another USC fumble led to more Cal points. A 24-yard run by Muhammad and a completion from Webb to Demetris Robertson got the Bears into the red zone and Matt Anderson's 27-yard field goal made it 21-10 with 1:54 left in the half. The Trojans got the last word before halftime though, as Darnold found Rogers for a 20-yard touchdown with 28 seconds left to give USC a 28-10 lead at halftime.

Cal continued to climb closer after the break. After forcing a three-and-out on USC's opening drive, the Bears marched 71 yards in 10 plays, eventually scoring on a 1-yard option run by Webb. That made it a two-score game and left Cal down by 11 but a 37-yard touchdown run by Jones and 17-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Imatorbhebhe gave Darnold his fifth TD pass of the night and put USC up 42-17 after three quarters.

An acrobatic catch by Stovall yielded a 16-yard touchdown for the Bears just a few minutes into the fourth quarter and rounded out the scoring for Cal. Fellow freshman Robertson also turned in a strong performance Thursday, catching a career-high nine passes for 92 yards.

"We got down early and didn't execute well early," Cal head coach Sonny Dykes said. "We didn't do a good job on third down and got to do better and be able to move the chains. We didn't look sharp. We had to move some receivers around with Chad out and other guys going down. We didn't execute well. Give USC credit. They're a good team and Clay (Helton) has done a nice job and they've gotten better every week. The QB has improved and done a nice job. They did a good job against us in the run game. We have to be able to stop somebody from running the football against us."

After a tight turnaround between last week's game against Oregon and Thursday's contest at USC, the Bears will get a few extra days of rest to prepare for next Saturday's game against Washington. Kickoff time for that game has not yet been announced.