Bottom 10

Reports continued to circulate that USC is attempting to jump from the hapless Pacific 10 Conference to the powerful Mountain West. The Trojans say they need some decent competition and they want to play in a conference that has a little prestige.

Meanwhile, the Pac-10, in an obvious ploy to take over the Bottom Ten, seized Nos. 8-14 in the rankings after a series of disastrous losses.

Elsewhere, Syracuse (0-3) retained No. 1 with a 13-55 loss to Penn State, staying ahead of the University of El Batted Down Paso (0-2) and fast-folding Michigan (1-2).

Rich Rodriguez, the Wolverines’ new coach, was accused of destroying his West Virginia player files when he left that school in the off-season. How long before he starts to shred his Michigan player files?

Let’s give the SMUs (1-2), debuting at No. 16, a warm welcome.

*--* Wreck, Record Last Loss Next Loss 1. Syracuse (0-3) 13-55, Penn State Northeastern 2. UTEP (0-2) Idle New Mexico St.* 3. Utah State (0-3) 10-58, Utah Idaho 4. Michigan (1-2) 17-35, Notre Dame Idle 5. Rutgers (0-2) 12-44, N. Carolina Navy 6. Memphis (0-3) 16-17 Marshall Nicholls St. 7. San Diego St. (0-3) 10-35, San Jose St. Idle 8. Washington St. (0-3) 17-45, Baylor Portland St. 9. Washington (0-3) 14-55, Oklahoma Idle 10. Stanford (1-2) 14-31, TCU San Jose St. *--*

*Inadvertent asterisk; please resume reading.

* 11. UCLA (1-1); 12. Arizona (2-1); 13. Oregon St. (1-2); 14. Arizona St. (2-1); 15. Anyone else from the Pac-10 that you want to put in there; 16. The SMUs (1-2); 17. Ole Miss St. (1-2); 18. South Carolina (1-2); 19. Gone Fishing; 20. Ohio St. (2-1).

* Others receiving votes: Virginia (1-2).

* Others not receiving votes: USC (2-0).

* Rout of the week: Idle over Michigan (1-2).

* Note to distraught Ohio State fans: Relax. You don’t have to play USC again this weekend. Your opponent is Troy University. Of course, Troy is undefeated . . .