Arrington, the nation's fourth-leading rusher, surpassed the 100-yard mark for the school-record 11th straight game for California (10-1), which learns Sunday if the closer-than-expected victory will result in its first Rose Bowl bid since 1959.
Rodgers was 15-for-28 for 223 yards for Cal, which had 546 total yards 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.
Almond threw for a career-high 304 yards on 17-of-37 passing for Southern Miss (6-5), which plays North Texas in the New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 14.
No. 10 Virginia Tech 16,
No. 9 Miami 10
In Miami, Virginia Tech capped its inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference season with a championship, getting two touchdown passes from Bryan Randall and holding Miami's high-powered offense to 190 yards.
Eddie Royal caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Randall with 11:29 remaining, putting No. 10 Virginia Tech (10-2, 7-1) ahead to stay.
Virginia Tech will learn Sunday to which Bowl Championship Series bowl it's headed; the probable choice is the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3. Miami (8-3, 5-3) -- which was the only team to play in the BCS each of the past four seasons, and would have extended that streak with a win Saturday -- will play Florida in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Navy 42, Army 13
In Philadelphia, Aaron Polanco threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as Navy routed Army in the 105th meeting between the US military colleges.
President George W. Bush attended the game for the first time since 2001 at Veterans Stadium, taking part in the coin toss by flipping a commemorative coin sent from the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
Bowl-bound Navy (9-2) hadn't won nine games since Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach quarterbacked the Midshipmen to a 9-1 record in 1963. Navy has won five of the last six meetings to tie the overall series at 49-49-7. The Midshipmen have outscored Army 134-31 in the last three games.
No. 7 Louisville 55, Tulane 7
In New Orleans, Stefan LeFors, who played high school football in nearby Baton Rouge, threw for one touchdown and ran for another to lead Louisville to its fifth straight game of at least 55 points.
The nation's top-rated passer completed 19 of 27 for 247 yards before leaving the game late in the third quarter.
The Cardinals (10-1, 8-0 Conference USA), ranked first nationally in scoring, were averaging nearly 50 points a game.
No. 19 Pittsburgh 43,
South Florida 14
In Tampa, Florida, Tyler Palko threw for a career-high 411 yards and five touchdowns and the Panthers virtually assured themselves the Big East's spot in the Bowl Championship Series.
Greg Lee scored on receptions of 18, 6 and 7 yards for Pitt (8-3), while Malcolm Postell returned one of his two interceptions 15 yards for a TD that gave his team a 13-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
Palko completed 19 of 28 passes and finished his afternoon in the third quarter by throwing for two scores in the last 1:27 of the third quarter.
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