There are too many teams in front of USC and victories in its remaining four games won’t allow it to leap to one of the top two spots like Texas Tech did after its 39-33 win against No. 1 Texas. The only Top 25 team the Trojans play is No. 21 California Saturday at the L.A. Coliseum. Their other opponents are Stanford, Notre Dame and UCLA, all of which are having mediocre seasons.

Once again USC has been done in by its own conference. Throughout this season, the Big 12 has had Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State in the Top 10. Joining in from the Southeastern Conference is Alabama and Florida, with an occasional visit by Louisiana State.

USC has been the Pac-10’s only legitimate Top 10 team. Oregon and California have been among the polls’ bottom-feeders all season. Washington is 0-8, Arizona State, expected to make a run for the Rose Bowl, has been disappointment under Dennis Erickson, and UCLA seems to digress each week under Rick Neuheisel.

To make matters worse, USC may not even make it to the Rose Bowl. It’s early season loss to Oregon State at Corvalis has the Beavers, who also have one conference loss, on track to be in Pasadena New Year’s Day. If Oregon State wins its final four games, starting Saturday against UCLA, it would be the conference champion. After the Bruins, OSU plays three of the Pac-10’s better teams, California, Arizona and the season finale against rival Oregon. How ironic would it be for Penn State, assuming Alabama and Texas Tech play for the BCS title, to come to California and meet Oregon State, a team it throttled in a September game in Happy Valley.

It would be galling to Trojan fans, who have a dim view of the Nittany Lions anyway. Not that they would begrudge old Joe Paterno a chance to win the national championship. Hollywood always loves a feel-good story. It’s the Ohio State factor that pricks USC’s temper. The Trojans slammed the Buckeyes, 35-3, in their second game, then later watched Penn State struggle to a listless 13-6 win at Columbus, two plodding Big Ten teams with little imagination.

Right now, a date in the Rose Bowl is looking pretty good to the Trojans, and if Penn State is their opponent, they’ll take it.