updated 11:30 p.m. ET Aug. 10, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Move over, New Orleans. In the eyes of Louisiana State coach Les Miles, the Pac-10 is the real Big Easy.

Miles recently told a gathering of LSU fans that Southern California has a “much easier road to travel” than LSU to the BCS title game in the Superdome next January.

When Pac-10 coaches, players and officials gathered for the conference’s annual pep rally — otherwise known as football media day — the reaction was a mix of disbelief and dismay.

“I believe you should be very, very careful about talking about other people in everything you do, and particularly comparing teams,” commissioner Tom Hansen said.

The episode underscored a reality of life in the Pac-10. No matter how much the conference achieves on the field, it still battles for national recognition, especially in places where root-hog-or-die football is a way of life.

“If anything, it just draws attention to the fact that this conference needs to continue to keep a mind-set of improving our reputation,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said.

Hansen said he would like to see a Southeastern Conference team visit Pullman, Wash., in late November. That’s unlikely. But many in the Pac-10 would be happy to see USC play LSU for the national title in New Orleans in January.

Miles seemed to project that matchup in his remarks to LSU fans.

“They’re going to play real knockdown, drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal-Berkeley, Stanford — some real juggernauts,” Miles said of the Trojans. “And they’re going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they’ll end up in the title (game). I would like that path for us.”

It’s fair to wonder if the Trojans’ road would be much tougher if they played in, say, the SEC West, home to Miles’ Tigers.

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Last September, the Trojans blitzed SEC West champion Arkansas 50-14.

A year earlier, it was USC 70, Hogs 17.

And in 2003, the Trojans went into Auburn and crushed the Tigers 23-0 in quarterback Matt Leinart’s first college start.

But to some critics — including Miles, perhaps — those results only support the perception that the Pac-10 has become USC and the Little Nine. The Trojans have won or shared four straight conference titles.

The perception is, so to speak, miles away from reality. Most of USC’s recent trouble has come in its own backyard.

Four of USC’s last five losses, dating to October 2002, have come against Pac-10 rivals.

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