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With No. 1 Oregon and No. 6 Stanford among the top teams in the country right now, the Pac-10 widely is considered to be the best or second-best conference in college football this year.

But the league probably won't be able to come close to fulfilling its bowl obligations, thanks to 7-4 USC being on NCAA probation and ineligible to play in a bowl, and other factors.

That could spell trouble for the Las Vegas Bowl, which is supposed to get the No. 5 team from the Pac-10 for its Dec. 22 game to pit against its first pick of Mountain West Conference teams that aren't invited to play in a BCS game.

Along with Oregon (10-0) and Stanford (10-1), only Arizona (7-3) is bowl eligible now. Cal (5-6) and Oregon State (5-5) can get there, but the Beavers would have to knock off either Stanford this week or Oregon next week.

Tina Kunzer-Murphy, the bowl's executive director, said the dilemma has caused her committee to begin looking far and wide for a team to match against the MWC representative, which most experts are predicting will be Utah.

One of the possibilities is 6-5 Notre Dame, although getting the Irish is a bit of a long shot, especially if Notre Dame beats USC and is that much more attractive to other bowls.

If Kunzer-Murphy does get Notre Dame, the Vegas Bowl probably would bypass Utah, because the Irish and Utes have met this season.

Patterson's empathy

TCU coach Gary Patterson said the Frogs, who are 45-point favorites over New Mexico this week, won't run up the score on the 1-10 Lobos like Oregon did in that season-opening 72-0 pulverization.

"I can promise you that even if I had a chance to do that, that would never happen," Patterson said. "Do I want to get an opportunity to play for a national championship? Yes. But not at the expense of teaching my young people a life lesson. … I think you have to be able to do things the right way, and I'm one of those guys that still believes that's what college football's all about."

Patterson also used Tuesday's MWC coaches teleconference to preach to BYU and Utah fans, telling them to stop hating each other so much.

Not on the hot seat

Colorado State's November of humiliation, which included the 49-10 loss to BYU and 44-0 blanking at the hands of rival Wyoming in the Border War, probably won't cost coach Steve Fairchild his job. The Rams finished the season at 3-9 for the second straight year.

CSU athletic director Pete Kowalczyk told the Coloradoan newspaper of Fort Collins that Fairchild, who is three seasons into a five-year contract, has the program moving forward.

"We expect to see improvement next year and the year after that. That's been the plan from Day 1," Kowalczyk said.

WAC update

Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson hasn't stopped trying to persuade Hawaii to stay in the WAC after reports surfaced last week that the Warriors had an invitation to join the MWC in football only. It was another difficult week for Benson, after North Texas informed his league it isn't interesting in joining.

OSU president slams Frogs, Broncos

Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee, who was raised in Vernal, Utah, said Wednesday that even if TCU and Boise State finish the regular season undefeated, they don't deserve to be in the BCS championship game.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Gee said the Frogs and Broncos do not play a difficult enough schedule.