BCS Rankings Week 11: Penn State and Teams Who Have Peaked in the Polls

As the college football world focuses on the incredibly disturbing off-the-field issues with the Penn State Nittany Lions, the football team is quietly shooting up the polls and BCS rankings.

After the bye week, their record is a surprisingly strong 8-1 as the season hits the home stretch. They are 12^th in the latest AP and coaches’ poll, which is the highest of any team in the Big Ten. When the BCS rankings come out Sunday night, Penn State will likely be knocking on the door of the Top 10.

Don’t expect that to last.

The Nittany Lions have had the luxury of an incredibly soft schedule. When they played the only tough game on the season, a home game against then-ranked No. 3 Alabama, they were promptly stomped, 27-11.

The last three games on the schedule are about to hit Penn State hard.

First up it's Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are an incredibly pissed off squad that is coming off an embarrassing loss to Northwestern. Then it’s a trip to Ohio State, a squad who has quietly turned into a fringe Top 25 team because of the rapidly improving QB Braxton Miller. They end the season with a trip to Wisconsin, a team that is right there in the mix for a Big Ten Championship.

Joe Paterno’s crew has an incredibly dull offense that is ranked 100^th in the nation in scoring. They aren’t getting great QB play and are incapable of coming back from a double-digit deficit.

This is as good as it gets for Penn State in 2011.

Here are two other teams whose stocks have peaked:

No. 5 Boise State

Sometimes life just isn’t fair.

As the Broncos continue to steam roll every opponent, teams with losses are now ahead of them. Alabama fell to No. 4 after losing to No. 1 LSU, and will likely stay ahead of Boise State for the rest of the season.

With TCU, San Diego State, Wyoming and New Mexico left on the schedule, they don’t have the opportunity to impress anyone.

It’s just not fair. Why should a team with an unblemished record…ah crap I’m starting to go off on an anti-BCS rant.

Bottom line: Boise State is stuck where they are.

No. 11 Virginia Tech

Another team with the benefit of an incredibly soft schedule, V-Tech is living off its reputation of years past.

With No. 23 Georgia Tech on deck, expect the offense to sink the Hokies out of the Top 15 for good.

Clemson is the best team in the ACC this year and expect the polls to reflect as much when the smoke clears on the last month of the season.