Attention, Voters

Too bad there’s no reward for improving in college football.

Too bad college football poll voters are as predictable as ice dancing judges. Movement upward is glacial and predictable. Washington State loses? Everybody move up one spot please.

As the polls came out Sunday, as USC crept up a little, to No. 6 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN offerings, it was so obvious. Performance doesn’t matter. Among the top 10 teams, only USC (and maybe Iowa) are getting better. But in this system, consistent improvement doesn’t matter.

The way the Trojans dissected UCLA, the way Carson Palmer picked apart the Bruin defense, the way Kareem Kelly joyfully plucked a Palmer pass for a touchdown, the way Keary Colbert high-stepped down the sideline, the way the defense, even with its best player, young Shaun Cody, sidelined for the year, continues hitting hard and smartly, it is clear.

USC doesn’t belong in the Holiday Bowl, the place where the Pacific 10 Conference has sentenced its second-place team.

This USC team wouldn’t be out of place in the Fiesta Bowl, going against Miami for the national championship.

And certainly this USC team should be invited to the Rose Bowl if the Trojans beat Notre Dame Saturday. Even if UCLA doesn’t beat Washington State a week later. Rules are rules, agreements are agreements and, yes, Washington State beat USC in overtime weeks ago.

But how embarrassing for the Rose Bowl and the Pac-10 if USC finishes the regular season 10-2, having compiled that record while playing the nation’s toughest schedule according to the bowl championship series ratings formula, and Washington State with, at best, a hobbled Jason Gesser and, at worst, his backup, comes and gets blown out by Iowa.

Oh, yeah, Iowa.

Somehow the Big Ten is being rewarded because its two best teams, its only quality teams, didn’t play each other.

USC didn’t get to avoid Washington State. Or Arizona State or Oregon or Oregon State or UCLA. Yet Iowa, which lost to an Iowa State team which was beaten by Connecticut Saturday, is being voted above USC both by writers and coaches.

Do you people pay attention? Anyone who is voting Iowa as a better team than USC, one question: If you had to put your own money on the winner of a game at a neutral site between USC and Iowa right now, where would you put that money?

Who among the top 20 teams has a quarterback playing better right now than Palmer? Which team among the top 20 has a better roster of receivers than USC? Or running backs?

“I’m not going to get into the polls and rankings and all that stuff,” Justin Fargas said Saturday after USC’s 52-21 whipping of UCLA. “All I can tell you is that this team is getting better every week and, in my opinion, I don’t see that happening anywhere else. Do we get rewarded for that? I guess that’s up to other people, you guys, the voters. The voters see what they see and think what they think.”

They’ve seen Ohio State barely hang on to beat Cincinnati, Penn State, Purdue, Illinois and Michigan. The Buckeyes haven’t improved, they’ve marked time and survived in a mediocre Big Ten.

Oklahoma stumbled against Texas A&M;, and the Sooner defense was exposed while giving up 30 points not three weeks ago. And yet they’re back at No. 3 in the AP poll and still in the race for the Fiesta Bowl.

Fargas needs to understand: seeing and thinking are two things voters don’t always do.

The Trojans, coaches and players, have handled this well. They have not whined. If they miss out on the Rose Bowl, Coach Pete Carroll said, “It’s our fault. We lost to Washington State.”

Carroll said he has no second thoughts about the tough schedule, about playing Auburn, Colorado, Kansas State and Notre Dame out of conference.

“It depends on your focus,” Carroll said. “Is your only focus to win a national championship? That’s not my focus. My focus is to win the championship in our conference and to win the Rose Bowl. When we look at things in that manner, then our schedule has made us tougher, more competitive and we needed that because we have a really hard conference schedule. And if we don’t play in the Rose Bowl? That won’t take away that we’re co-champions of the Pac-10.”

Carroll won’t say it, Fargas won’t say it, but if USC beats Notre Dame Saturday, the BCS will suffer if the Trojans end up in the Holiday Bowl.

The way Ohio State struggles to score against mediocre teams such as Cincinnati and Illinois, the national title game in the Fiesta Bowl has the makings of another debacle, a blowout same as last season.

If Washington State ends up in the Rose Bowl and Gesser can’t play, ditto. An ugly game.

And the Holiday Bowl, on Dec. 27, will have the best team in the country. What a waste.

“I wouldn’t mind playing anybody right now,” Carroll said. “Other teams might not feel that way.”

That’s for sure. Who would want to play USC?

*

Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com.