Cal posts solid victory, makes pitch for BCS

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — California coach Jeff Tedford was praising J.J. Arrington and couldn’t resist the chance to give his fourth-ranked Golden Bears one more plug for entry into the Bowl Championship Series.

Arrington ran for a season-best 261 yards, his school-record 11th straight game with more than 100 yards, in Cal’s 26-16 victory over Southern Mississippi on Saturday night.

“He’s a very solid, consistent performer for us,” Tedford said. “There has to be something said for consistency throughout the year.”

Like a BCS bid?

“I would hope so,” Tedford said. “That’s the way I would look at it.”

Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and California scored on a bizarre special-teams play in the closer-than-expected win. The Golden Bears (10-1) learn Sunday if it will result in their first Rose Bowl bid since 1959.

“We want the Rose Bowl so bad we can taste it,” defensive lineman Lorenzo Alexander said.

The Bears were fourth in the latest BCS standings, barely ahead of Texas. They need to stay ahead of the Longhorns to earn a trip to Pasadena, Calif.

“Our one loss was to the No. 1 team in the country,” Rodgers said, referring to Cal’s 23-17 loss to Southern California two months ago. “Texas is a very good team as well. Their one loss was to (Oklahoma), the No. 2 team in the country. We’re hoping the computers stay the same and the human voters don’t change their minds.”

Rodgers was 15 for 28 for 223 yards for Cal, which had 546 total yards, held Southern Miss to 23 yards rushing and finished with 10 regular-season wins for the first time since 1949.

Southern Miss, a 24-point underdog, pulled to 17-16 on Dustin Almond’s 1-yard touchdown run with 5:56 to play.

But Darren McCaleb’s potential game-tying extra-point attempt was blocked by Thomas DeCoud. Wendell Hunter returned it 85 yards for two points, giving Cal a 19-16 lead.

Arrington then ran 56 yards up the middle to set up Marshawn Lynch’s game-sealing 12-yard touchdown run with 4:51 left.

“They made it look easy,” Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower said.