BCS Rankings 2011: 5 Teams Who Will Be in Sunday's Poll but Unranked in a Month

Once Saturday's batch of games is done with, teams will have continued to position themselves in the top 25 listings, and will eagerly await the first BCS rankings of the year, which will be unveiled Sunday night.

While some teams may find themselves in those rankings this week, it is in no way a guarantee of future success.

Here is a look at five teams that will be in tomorrow's rankings, but will be gone by this time next month.  

Illinois

One of 2011's most surprising teams has been Ron Zook's side in Urbana-Champaign.

The Fighting Illini have continued to win any game that has been on their schedule (6-0), which includes a good win over Arizona State and Northwestern.

Unfortunately for Illinois, it will likely only take a loss or two for voters to lose faith in them and over the next month, they take on Ohio State (Oct. 15), go on the road to play Purdue and Penn State and then return home for Michigan. If they come out scotch-free, we could be looking at a serious contender.

The possibilities don't look likely, though.

Baylor

While Baylor would currently be included in the first release of the BCS rankings, there is a chance they will not even be there tomorrow after their game Saturday against Texas A&M. 

If Robert Griffin III does lead the Bears to a win, they still have a game at Oklahoma State and then face Missouri and Kansas.

All signs point towards the Bears dropping off the radar in the next month. Look for Griffin's Heisman hopes to become inextricably linked to that set of games.

Michigan

In the first six weeks of the season, Michigan had to head on the road only once, and the schedule has not been difficult at all.

Over the next month, Michigan heads on the road to Michigan State (Oct. 15), Iowa and Illinois and also has a home game against Purdue. All very tough conference games.

When you look at last year, Michigan got off to a fast start as well but once conference play got rolling, the Michigan offense slowed, the defense struggled, and the Wolverines feel off the radar. Brady Hoke may well turn this program around, but to expect a BCS berth this season is pushing it.

Kansas State

While Kansas State's 2011 story has been nice, this fable is about to have a very ugly end to it, starting this week. 

Nobody in the nation should envy the next 30 days that the Wildcats are scheduled to trudge through. After heading on the road Oct. 15 to play Texas Tech, the Wildcats next play at Kansas, home against Oklahoma, back on the road against Oklahoma State, and finally home vs. Texas A&M.

Over the next five games, Kansas State will likely end up losing four times and will be completely out of the BCS rankings. 

Georgia Tech

In the first half of the season, the Georgia Tech triple-option has been awfully hard for defenses to slow down, with the Yellow Jackets steamrolling to victories week-in, week-out.

As the calendar draws closer to Halloween and then on into November, the Yellow Jackets will certainly be tested as they head to Miami for a crucial road game before back-to-back home games against Clemson and Virginia Tech—the latter two are the ACC's best, and should hit Tech with losses that will drop them out of the rankings.