In the middle of the Top 25 are some legendary teams that are looking for their return to glory. They may have had successful seasons in the past, but 2011 proved to not be their best. Starting off the weekend:

15. Wisconsin

“We all know that Wisconsin has always been good at sports, so it’s no surprise to see them being in the polls. I don’t see them being anywhere high up but I also don’t see them being anywhere towards the bottom. They will most likely hold their place around the middle of the polls for the entire season because they don’t have the players to take them to the top right now.”

Allie Balog, CSF Associate Editor

“The Wisconsin Badgers have a lot to replace this season. The loss of Russell Wilson, Nick Toon, and the entire right side of their offensive line will be a lot to overcome. However, after scoring 39 touchdowns and rushing for nearly 2,000 yards last season Montee Ball decided to come back for his last season. He will provide most of the offense for Wisconsin as they seem to be in a bit of rebuilding this year.”

Garrett Mayers, CSF Writer/Contributor

14. Michigan State

“Michigan State is out to prove how good they are in more than just basketball. They are slowly becoming one of those schools that schools don’t want to play because they are determined. Michigan State doesn’t like to lose in anything and that they will do their best to ensure that they are ranked well in this season’s polls. It’s just a matter of how good their players are this season that will be the final factor.”

Allie Balog, CSF Associate Editor

“Michigan State is looking to go undefeated at home this year, but they can only do that if they put forth everything they have. They will require speed and defense to get past teams like Michigan and Iowa. Mark Dantonio has a tough schedule ahead of him and the Spartans, but they just need to remember to keep up the effort.”

Elizabeth Garabedian, CSF Writer/Contributor

13. Arkansas

“Unfortunately for Arkansas, Bobby Petrino was a much better play-caller than he was motorcyclist. The Razorbacks already had an uphill battle, trying to knock off LSU and Bama in the SEC West, but Petrino’s abrupt firing has all but knocked them out of the picture. Still, quarterback Tyler Wilson will post big numbers and will have the Razorbacks in the Top 25.”

Jeff Dunbar, CSF Senior Editor

“A rocky offseason saw the dismissal of Bobby Petrino and the loss of playmakers on both sides of the ball, but the Razorbacks have the talent to overcome the challenges created. QB Tyler Wilson, already pegged by some as the top pick in next year’s NFL Draft, will be even better in 2012. He’ll be joined by a group of unproven, but skilled players on offense and defense who look to make an impact in the SEC.”

Anthony Manzella, CSF Writer/Contributor

12. Kansas State

“Kansas State is racking up a bunch of preseason awards for student-athletes and all-Americans, but if they are looking to be a top contender, they need to keep that up when the fall arrives. Collin Klein already has made his mark for the Wildcats, so as long as he can encourage the rest of the offense to do the same, Kansas State is on its way to redeem glory.”

Elizabeth Garabedian, CSF Writer/Contributor

“The Wildcats surprised some last year, going 10-3 and losing to high-powered Arkansas in the AT&T. That will not be the case this year, however. Amassing over 3,000 combined yards and 40 touchdowns, QB Collin Klein enters the 2012 season a legitimate Heisman contender. Top WR Chris Harper and RB John Hubert return and will join Klein to create a dangerous offense.”

Anthony Manzella, CSF Writer/Contributor

11. TCU

“The Horned Frogs finally have their shot playing with the big boys. A depleted Big 12 Conference got a huge shot in the arm when TCU and West Virginia joined the fold. Head coach Gary Patterson has shown that his teams fear no one and can perform on the big stage. The big test now is if they have the depth to make through a tough conference schedule. With a Texas program still trying to fight its way back to what it once was and a Baylor team minus RG3, look for TCU to show that they belong in their inaugural season in their new conference.”

Jeff Dunbar, CSF Senior Editor

“The Horned Frogs are a very interesting case this season as they are now part of the Big 12. TCU will be returning most of their high powered offense, but they did lose 3 starting offensive lineman. The question will linger all season as to if TCU will be able to handle the Big 12.”

Garrett Mayers, CSF Writer/Contributor

Week 11 of this year’s college football season had its share of bigtime match ups, great individual performances and emotion.  Check out CSF’s take on our top four storylines from last weekend’s action.

Despite turmoil, Penn State shows ultimate class: Despite the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal and the following administrative leave of assistant coach Mike McQueary and the mid-week firing of legendary coach Joe Paterno, Penn State officially started the healing process this weekend for the football program, the student body and most importantly, for the victims of the alleged abuse.

It started the night before, when students and faculty held a candlelight vigil for the vicitims of Sandusky’s heinous crimes.  On game day, the Penn State fans gave a warm welcome to the team when they got off the buses and again, the the Nittany Lions took the field.  An emotional moment of silence showed fans, many of whom were in tears, was followed by both teams meeting in a

BCS Computers get lucky again: Supporters of the BCS, which depends on computer formulas to determine the best teams in the land, got a huge break last weekend.  For the second straight year, Boise State will not be able to blame computers for not getting their shot at college football immortality.  Last year, a missed field goal at Nevada cost the Broncos a perfect season, and last weekend it was a missed field goal at home against TCU.

Just south in Palo Alto, the Stanford Cardinal fell to Oregon, ending the nation’s longest active winning streak and effectively taking them out of BCS Championship contention.  In the end, the Ducks simply had too much speed and athleticsm for the Cardinal, who still played an admirable game.  These two losses leave only LSU, Oklahoma State and Houston, who has never been taken seriously for a national title run, due to their schedule.

The Dawgs are back:  After dropping their first two games of the season, many had written off the Georgia Bulldogs and many fans were calling for head coach Mark Richt’s head.  Eight straight wins later and the ability to control their own destiny in the SEC East has a way of creating optimism.  After the 45-7 rout of Auburn last weekend, the Dawgs simply have to win this weekend at home against lowly Kentucky to officially punch their ticket to the SEC Championship next month.  You wouldn’t have guessed it a couple of months ago, but Richt’s very young and very talented squad will finish this season with nine or ten wins and a ton of momentum going into next season.

Brandon Weeden torches Texas Tech:  The Red Raiders were flying high after their upset win at Oklahoma on October 22nd.  That flight was short-lived, and they have dropped three straight since then, with the most recent loss resulting in a 66-6 beat down at home against Weeden and the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  Weeden shredded the TTU defense to the tune of 423 yards and five TDs.  In fact, Weeden had almost as many touchdowns (5) as he did incomplete passes (6) in this blowout.  The victory kept OSU in the #2 spot in the polls, and a win in the Bedlam game against Oklahoma would secure a shot at the BCS title–but don’t expect the Sooners to roll over…….the road to the Big 12 still goes through Norman until proved otherwise.

The first week of the 2011 college football season is officially in the books, and while the January bowls are still months away, we did manage to learn quite a bit from opening week. Here is the CSF Breakdown from Week 1.

Another year, another over-hyped Notre Dame team: A lot of hype surrounded the hiring of former Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly. Because of the dismal state that Charlie Weis left the program in, the expectations were not too high last season. This season was a different story. Most preseason polls had the Irish in the top 25, and last weekend’s loss to USF in South Bend was proof yet again that the Irish are not a dominant program. Much credit needs to go to USF and Skip Holtz, but once again, Notre Dame folded in the face of pressure and played like a team that was afraid of losing, instead of a confident team that expected to win.

RG3 is good. Very good: While most people who watched TCU fall to Baylor are discussing the fall of TCU from the nation’s elite, we prefer to look at the unbelievable play of Baylor QB Robert Griffin III. The junior signal-caller did everything except park the cars and sell the popcorn in Baylor’s amazing 50-48 victory over the Horned Frogs. Griffin III has somewhat flown under the radar because of other NFL prospects in the Big 12 like Blaine Gabbert, Josh Freeman and Landry Jones to name a few, but last weekend was not a fluke. RG3 came into the season with 41 career touchdown passes, versus only 11 picks. This will not be the first time you hear from Griffin or the Bears this season.

Auburn could be in for a long season: The 2010 BCS National Champs had to recover an onside kick and score with less than a minute in their nail-biter against visiting Utah State last weekend. Much has been made of the Tigers’ holes vacated by Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton and 13th overall NFL selection Nick Fairley, and the cynics got it right this time. Auburn could not slow down the Utah State, who racked up 227 yards rushing and 448 total net yards. With a healthy dose of SEC West opponents, it is only going to get more difficult, and the Tigers will have to fight to be bowl eligible this season.

The SEC is still King. Just ask the Oregon Ducks: After Nick Fairley dominated the Oregon offensive line, this year was the Ducks’ opportunity to get respect for themselves and the newly expanded Pac 12, but LSU stood in the way of that, dominating Oregon in the first bigtime match up of the young season. Despite only getting 98 yards passing from Jarrett Lee, the Tigers stuffed last year’s leading rusher in all of college football, holing LaMichael James to an anemic 54 yards. Until Oregon can score against the SEC, they can rack up as many yards and points as they want–it just won’t get them back to a title game.

Maryland trumps Oregon in most hideous uniform challenge: If you watched the Miami vs. Maryland game on Monday night, you may have thown up your hot wings. The Terps’ uniforms rivaled the uni’s from “Any Given Sunday”–if you’ve seen that horrible movie, you understand the comparison. Previously, Oregon’s all-fluorescent yellow uniforms took the cake, but Maryland trumped those on Monday. If nothing else, new head coach Randy Edsall has people (including us) talking and writing about Maryland football, which hadn’t been on the radar since Al Davis, in his infinite wisdom, took former Terp wideout Darirus Heyward-Bey with the Oakland Raiders’ first pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

Peter Marhoefer- Mr. TouchdownUSA

There are lots of great non-conference match ups in September everyone is talking about, however here are some games of intrigue you should search your cable listings for.

Friday, September 2nd- TCU @ Baylor

Baylor should be sky high for the return visit from the Rose Bowl Champs. Last years 45-10 beat down, in which Baylor Quarterback Robert Griffin stated, “”I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life. … None of us wanted to come out here and have a showcase like this.”

We will see if TCU comes out with the same fire as last seasons record setting season or will be going through the motions in their final season in the Mountain West Conference.

The Baylor faithful have no excuse to not fill Floyd Casey stadium for this game. If they fail to, a TCU home game two hours South of Ft. Worth might emerge.

Saturday, September 10th- Utah @ USC

The Utes introduction to the PAC 12 could be a rude introduction or a program elevating triumph. Many are picking Utah to represent the division in the inaugural PAC 12 Championship game.

As the Reggie Bush sanctions against the USC program continues, it will be interesting to see how the Trojans react after a disappointing 2010 season. As many casual fans abandon the USC program, the home field advantage in this game might not be as significant as years past. The Trojans “us against the world” attitude may be harshly tested.

Saturday, September 17- Penn State @ Temple

When Temple coach Al Golden left for Miami (FL) he did not leave a bare cupboard for new coach Steve Addazio. Temple players can finally imagine what selling out Lincoln Financial Field would feel like as 50,000 Penn State fans will make that dream come true.

This may be a tough game for the Nittany Lions to get up for after a home date vs. Alabama. Temple gave Penn State a tough time in University Park in 2010 losing 22-13. The Owls could come away with their first victory since 1941.

Friday, September 23- Central Florida @ BYU

Central Florida will land in Provo catching the Cougars after a BCS gauntlet of Ole Miss, Texas, and Utah. BYU which could very easily be 3-0 or 0-3 at this point, will have a short week to prepare for this Friday Night game vs. the defending C-USA champs.

Saturday, September 24- Florida @ Kentucky

This may be one of the biggest games in the history of the Kentucky Football Program. Florida will be taking it’s first road trip with new coach Will Muschamp. Kentucky has Auburn, Alabama, and Arkansas off of the schedule,  MUST win this game to move the program forward.

If the Wildcats prevail, it could be a magical season of 9-11 victories in Lexington and a possible first appearance in the SEC Championship Game.

CSF’s College Football Preseason Countdown to #1 continues this week with our #11-#15 ranked teams.  In case you missed them, check out our breakdown of #21-#25 and last week’s breakdown of teams #16-#20. 

15.  Virginia Tech:  The Hokies will have little trouble replacing the loss of QB Tyrod Taylor. There are Seven games on the schedule that look like blow outs before the season starts. The Hokies will meet the Seminoles once again in the ACC Championship Game.  –  Peter Marhoefer, Mr. Touchdown USA

The model of consistently being good, winning games, playing the right way, developing NFL ready players and an empty national championship trophy case.  I would love to have seen this team  with Tyrod Taylor and their running backs return, minus the brain freeze that got them early last year.  What might have been…  –  Christian Hon, CSF writer/contributor

14.  TCU:  They’re not going to be anywhere as good as last season, but, for one more season at least, they’ll play in the Mountain West before moving to the Big East.  Two years from now, none of us will even be able to name their previous conference.  –  Justin Cange, CSF writer/contributor

The Horned Frogs’ season will come down to the big game on November 12 at Boise State, and if Gary Patterson’s boys can pull it off, then a BCS bid will not be out of reach. But there are a lot of inexperienced players, which leads me to believe they could drop a game or two that would have been an easy W last season.  –  Nick Mattar, CSF writer/contributor

13.  Ohio State:  Off the field distractions and dates with Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Michigan State will keep the Buckeyes out of the BCS Title game but returning to the Rose Bowl.  –  Peter Marhoefer, Mr. Touchdown USA

Their players’ appreciation for tattoos could cost the Buckeyes dearly this season.  Of the five game suspensions of including key contributors Terrelle Pryor and Boom Herron, two of those games pit OSU against Miami and Michigan State.  Pryor and company return just in time to take on Big Ten newcomer Nebraska in Lincoln…not exactly a preseason game.  With their daunting schedule, the suspensions, and the continued pressure of an NCAA investigation, Ohio State will likely see themselves out of the BCS picture in 2011.  –  Jeff Dunbar, CSF Senior Editor

12.  Wisconsin:  The Badgers will sleepily bulldoze through the Big Ten and make us wonder how a perennial 10 win team can be so boring.  –  Christian Hon, CSF writer/contributor

The tailback tandem of Montee Ball, and James White will carry a huge load of the offense, and they will have to in order for new quarterback Jon Budmayr to succeed.  Budmayr has no game experience, but he has two talented receivers in Nick Toon and Jared Abbrederis to help him ease into his first season. On the other side of the ball, JJ Watt and Niles Brinkley will be tough to replace, but they should be fine as long as Louis Nzegwu and their senior-laden secondary produce.

11.  Oklahoma State:  I still don’t know how OSU didn’t win the Big 12 last year.  With that offense clicking on all cylinders and a road-weary OU team coming to Stillwater late in the season, I thought surely the Pokes would achieve their first berth in the Big 12 Championship Game.  Instead, they got blitzed again by OU.  Their biggest weapons on offense return, however, and as long as Brandon Weeden can find Justin Blackmon, OU is the only team that serves as a challenge.  — Justin Cange, CSF writer/contributor

Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon are getting all the hype, and why shouldn’t they after the numbers they posted last season.  But look for running back Joseph Randle to burst onto the national season in 2011.  As a freshman, the RB split time with Kendal Hunter, and he still had 452 yards rushing with another 427 yards receiving.  OSU also gets Oklahoma at home again this season, the second year in a row this rivalry match up will be played in Stillwater, due to the conference reallignment this fall.  –  Jeff Dunbar, CSF Senior Editor 

Peter Marhoefer- Mr. Touchdown USA

1. Baylor and Quarterback Robert Griffin will go into Ft. Worth and upset TCU on Saturday. This will launch Griffin into Heisman Trophy talk, and vault the Bears into their first bowl game since entering the Big 12.

2. Northwestern will challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten Title.  The Wildcats do not play Ohio State or Michigan on this years schedule. The lineup is littered with Junior and Senior talent, and Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald has proven he has the ability to “coach up” his players. Three big tests are on the schedule Nov. 6th at Penn State, Nov. 13th hosting Iowa, and finishing up the season Nov. 27th at Wisconsin. If the Wildcats can pull off two wins in those three games, look for a Big Ten Title tie with a one loss Ohio State.

3. After a 1-1 start, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins can avoid a mid-season firing with a win over Hawaii this weekend. A loss to Hawaii followed up with a home embarassment to Georgia, look for Hawkins to have one foot out the door.  Look for Colorado to court former Buff Eric Bieniemy, the current Minnesota Vikings Running Backs Coach.

4. The attendance at Saturday’s Iowa State – Kansas State game in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City will make both schools re-evaluate the continuation of the neutral-site contest. With five home and four away Big 12 games looming next year, neither school will be interested in playing three home conference games in off years in the future.

5. Boise State will escape Laramie, Wyoming this weekend. Wyoming may not win, but a fired up Cowboy’s team playing in honor of fallen teammate Ruben Narcisse will give the Broncos everything they can handle. Even with two weeks to prepare, Boise State will be looking ahead to next weeks showdown with Oregon State. Cowboys Coach Dave Christensen will have his high powered offense ready, and a team playing it’s second Top Ten opponent in a week will not be fazed by BSU’s number three rating.