College football: Play it forward

Five things to watch this week in college football:

1: Oregon at California on Friday may look like a walkover en route to a national playoff berth, but that’s what we thought in 2010. Oregon narrowly survived a 15-13 win in Berkeley. Cal is 2-3 in Pac-12 games but one loss was a Hail Mary at Arizona and the other was by two points to UCLA.

2: Mississippi State at Kentucky looked like a much better game until Kentucky got smacked, 41-3, over the weekend at Louisiana State. Mississippi State had a bye week to bask in the glory of the school’s first No. 1 football ranking.

3: Brady Hoke’s last-ditch effort to save Michigan’s season, and probably his job, will likely require the Wolverines pulling off a major upset at Michigan State. The Spartans look to keep control of the Big Ten race in advance of Ohio State’s Nov. 8 arrival.

4: Mississippi, coming off an emphatic home win over Tennessee, takes its top-ranked defense into Baton Rouge for another key SEC West game. LSU started 0-2 in SEC play but has bounced back with wins against Florida and Kentucky.

5: Alabama visits Tennessee one week after a 59-0 romp over Texas A&M. Alabama has been dominant at home but has struggled away from Tuscaloosa in SEC play, losing at Ole Miss and winning at Arkansas, 14-13.