Aaron Rodgers has become the real deal at California.
The junior from Chico, Calif., was one person named the Pacific-10 Conference’s Player of the Week on Monday after throwing for 348 yards against Washington on Saturday. His scintillating performance came as the Golden Bears handily defeated the Huskies, 54-7, for their sixth win of the season.
California needs one more win — its final game of the season coming against Stanford on Saturday — to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1996.
“They’ve been playing well lately,” Rodgers said of the game next week. “We’re going to have to play another good game. It’s going to be a big game, the big game. There are a lot of bowl implications on the line for both teams, so it should be interesting.”
The first of Rodgers’ 20 completions came just 18 seconds in the game and made a statement to the home crowd that the Bears are for real. Wide receiver Geoff McArthur found a seam in the Washington defense and sprinted for a 79-yard touchdown reception.
Cal scored four touchdowns and two field goals in its first six possessions.
The Golden Bears didn’t punt the ball until 2:11 remained in the third quarter.
“We couldn’t stop anything they were doing,” Washington defensive tackle Terry Johnson said. “They were prepared for our schemes.”
Rodgers has been the catalyst of the California offense that has helped lead the team to three wins in its last four games. In two of those three wins, he’s passed for more than 300 yards.
It should come as no surprise to fans of the Bears or the Pac-10. He’s had a quarterback guru to watch over him since he stepped on the California campus.
That guru is former Oregon offensive coordinator and current California head coach Jeff Tedford.
“He’s got tremendous attributes, he’s athletic, he’s got a good arm, he’s smart, he’s competitive, he’s tough,” Tedford told the Daily Californian before the season about his prediction of Rodgers. “I think that he is gonna be a great leader.”
Right on target.

That’s a drop
USC defeated Arizona, 45-0, on Saturday.
That should keep the Trojans No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series, right?
Wrong. Ohio State’s 16-13 win over Purdue the same day was enough to vault the Buckeyes to No. 2 in the BCS standings, less than a quarter of a point in front of No. 3 USC.
The Trojans, then, have a more than four-point lead over No. 4 LSU.
Because USC played the Wildcats, just 2-9 overall this season, the Trojans dropped in strength of schedule. Ohio State moved up in strength of schedule because the Boilermakers were No. 11 in the Associated Press top 25 last week and No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
USC sits in second in both polls while the Buckeyes are fourth in both.
The ramifications of USC dropping a notch can be felt all across the Pac-10. The winner of the Pac-10 automatically goes to the Rose Bowl unless that team is selected to the national championship game.
With USC slated to the Rose, Washington State is set for the Holiday Bowl, Oregon State is ready for the Sun Bowl and Oregon is going to the Insight Bowl. The final two bowl invitations should be filled out by California and UCLA.
Of course, there are three more weeks of Pac-10 play, so that could all change. Also, a loss to Michigan — if that were to happen — by Ohio State this week would bump USC back to No. 2, provided it beats UCLA Saturday.
Then there could be two Pac-10 teams in the BCS, thus bumping everyone up one spot.