There's a significant amount of anxiety emanating this week from State College and that's perfectly understandable. After all, if the season ended today, the undefeated Penn State football team would not be playing for the national championship. Considering the history at Penn State, where undefeated seasons too often have gone unrewarded in terms of national titles, the anxiety is not only understandable, it is expected.

There's also a lot of anger in State College this week, and that is not understandable. The anger stems from the fact Penn State is ranked No. 3 in the all-important Bowl Championship Series standings, behind Alabama and Texas Tech, which also are undefeated.

As much as this might be difficult for Penn State fans to accept, the truth is the Nittany Lions are third on merit, not football politics or computer gibberish.

Much of the anger stems from the fact that by beating No. 1 Texas Saturday, Texas Tech vaulted over Penn State, going from seventh to second. To complain about that is to not understand the magnitude of the Texas Tech win. It was a deserving leap in the BCS standings for the Red Raiders.

Penn State has no victory to match the one Texas Tech scored against Texas.

The Lions have played two teams that were ranked at the time of the games. They beat then-No. 22 Illinois, by 14, and then-No. 9 Ohio State, by 7.

Texas Tech also has two wins over ranked teams. The Red Raiders beat then-No. 19 Kansas, by 42, and No. 1 Texas, by 6. The caliber of opposition -- Kansas is 28th this week and Texas is fifth -- and the fact that both wins came in the past two weeks were enough to deservedly elevate Texas Tech.

Nor can there be any disputing the position of No. 1 Alabama, which plays in the Southeastern Conference, inarguably the toughest league in the country. The Crimson Tide holds wins over then-No. 9 Clemson, by 24, and then-No. 3 Georgia, by 11. Both of those wins came on the road.

Furthermore, if all three teams win their remaining games, there can be no disputing that Alabama and Texas Tech deserve to play for the national title. Penn State then would be shut out again.

Alabama plays tomorrow at No. 15 LSU and follows that with games against Mississippi State and Auburn and a probable spot in the SEC title game against, in all likelihood, Florida. Texas Tech has No. 8 Oklahoma State tomorrow night, No. 6 Oklahoma, Baylor and the Big 12 title game, probably against No. 14 Missouri.

Penn State's remaining schedule -- Iowa tomorrow, Indiana and Michigan State -- offers no chance to advance as long as Alabama and Texas Tech continue to win.

Which they won't -- a fact that kind of makes all of this furor unnecessary.

Despite where it stands today, Penn State has a better chance to play for the national championship than Texas Tech or Alabama, and Nittany Lions fans should understand that and hold their tongues. This could and should work out in the end.

There is no way Texas Tech will win all its remaining games. To do so would involve beating the No. 1, No. 8 and No. 6 teams in succession. If that happens, and the Red Raiders also beat Missouri to win the Big 12 title, they should cancel the national championship game and award the BCS championship to Texas Tech.

But should Texas Tech falter in any one of its remaining games, it will fall behind Penn State. That would put Penn State No. 2, at least.

Alabama could well lose tomorrow at LSU and has an even greater chance of losing in the SEC title game to Florida.

Not only does Penn State have a chance of being No. 1 in the final BCS standings, it should be favored to be No. 1.

The possibility also exists that No. 4 Texas or No. 5 Florida, if they win out, could pass Penn State.

If the Longhorns win their three remaining games, against Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M, and get to and win the Big 12 title game, it is unlikely but not inconceivable that they would pass Penn State.

If Florida wins its four remaining games, against Vanderbilt, South Carolina, the Citadel and Florida State, and the SEC title game, the Gators would have an even better chance of passing Penn State, although that, too, is not a likely scenario.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno long has championed a playoff system for college football, and correctly so. But the BCS offers Penn State its best chance this season. Although Penn State fans are upset that the BCS is temporarily holding back their team, in the end what the BCS will do is hold back other teams -- Florida or Texas or Southern California.

And the argument could easily be made, and find favor here, that those three teams -- not Alabama, Texas Tech and Penn State -- are the best three in the country.