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BERKELEY, California (Ticker) -- Last week No. 9 California just couldn't get into the end zone against No. 1 Southern California. Aaron Rodgers and J.J. Arrington made sure there wasn't a repeat performance against another Los Angeles school.
Rodgers tossed four touchdown passes and Arrington ran for a career-high 205 yards and two scores as the Golden Bears posted a 45-28 victory over UCLA in a Pac-10 Conference matchup.
The Golden Bears had a 403-175 edge in total offense against the Trojans but came up just short, 23-17, when Rodgers through an incomplete pass on fourth down from the USC 9. Cal (4-1, 2-1 Pac-10) never led in that one but jumped out to a 14-0 advantage against UCLA and rolled up 549 yards of offense with a balanced attack.
"Last week's game stunned us and stayed with us for a long time. Early in the week, I was a little concerned about it," California coach Jeff Tedford said. "I addressed the team on Wednesday and they came out focused Thursday for practice. I thought they played well today."
Rodgers, who completed 19-of-29 passes for 260 yards, hit Geoff McArthur with a 20-yard TD pass just four minutes into the game to open the scoring. Arrington doubled the lead with a one-yard TD run halfway through the second quarter.
"We had high expectations for today and everything worked out," Arrington said. "Aaron's a great quarterback and we have great receivers and good backs, so you really can't key on any one thing."
UCLA (4-2, 2-1) scored 14 consecutive points in a span of 50 seconds to tie the game at 14-14. Drew Olson, who completed 20-of-36 passes for 299 yards and four TDs, connected with Marcedes Lewis for a 15-yard score with 4:55 left in the half. After Cal fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Olson struck again, hitting Maurice Drew on a 27-yard scoring strike.
But Cal scored the next 21 points to take control of the game. Rodgers threw three consecutive TD passes, including a 26-yarder to Garrett Cross with 17 seconds left in the half to take the lead for good.
"It's a disappointing loss but we lost to a good football team. They made more plays," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. "This was a learning experience for us. We're a young team. It was good for us."
Rodgers made it 35-14 with an 80-yard strike to McArthur just 53 seconds into the fourth quarter. McArthur finished with nine catches for 163 yards.
Arrington, who broke Chuck Muncie's school record for consecutive 100-yard games with his fifth straight, capped the scoring with a nine-yard TD run with 1:29 left to play.
"I just try to run every week and make something happen," Arrington said. "I love when they put the ball in my hands."
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