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Should Penn State Be Ranked in the Week 9 College Football Polls?

Have the Nittany Lions done enough to warrant national attention?

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

After dominating Illinois in almost every aspect of the game (*cough* special teams *cough*), the same question has been floating around in the backs of Penn State fans' minds: Should the Nittany Lions be ranked this week?

Greg Pickel over at PennLive already tackled the subject Sunday morning, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Penn State's win yesterday was impressive, more because of how they looked rather than who they beat, but impressive nonetheless. They sit at 7-2, with their only two losses coming at the hands of top 25 teams. However, it's very difficult to go from not receiving a single vote to being ranked in one week. Is a win over Illinois impressive enough to make such a leap?

The teams who also received votes last week were Texas A&M (beat South Carolina), North Carolina (beat No. 23 Pitt), USC (beat Cal), Georgia (lost to Florida), Wisconsin (beat Rutgers), Northwestern (bye), Appalachian State (beat Troy), Cal (lost to USC) and Washington State (lost to No. 8 Stanford).

That's a lot of teams to jump who won games this weekend. So despite the fact that No. 21 Temple, No. 22 Duke and No. 23 Pitt all lost their games, it would take a lot of luck to jump all of those other teams.

Is it impossible, though? Absolutely not. Far crazier things have happened. So what do you think Penn State fans? Should Penn State be ranked? If not, should they get any votes? How many?