Chris Dufresne’s Play It Forward: Five things to watch this week in college football

Five things to watch this week in college football:

1: No. 1 Oregon at California is of interest only because it is one of two remaining road games for the Ducks and Cal has been great at home (4-0) and terrible on the road (1-4). Cal Coach Jeff Tedford is a former Oregon assistant.

2: Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, who needs only 100 more wins to reach 500, seeks victory No. 401 this week in an important Big Ten Conference game at Ohio State. Penn State (6-3) is bowl eligible and Ohio State (8-1) needs a victory to stay in the Big Ten title hunt.

3: Auburn controls its fate in the BCS title race but must not overlook Georgia this week in anticipation of its Nov. 26 Iron Bowl showdown at Alabama. Georgia has won three of its last four after a 1-4 start that included a loss at Colorado.

4: Oklahoma State (8-1) at Texas figured to be a key game in the Big 12 South, and it is — but only for division leader Oklahoma State. Texas (4-5) is reeling after an embarrassing defeat at Kansas State on Saturday.

5: Nevada at Fresno State is an important game because it involves two of Boise State’s final four opponents. Nevada (8-1) has risen to No. 21 in this week’s Associated Press poll while Fresno State improved to 6-2 after a win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

— Chris Dufresne