College football: Play it forward

Five things to watch this week in college football:

1. Spoiler Alert. Playoff-hopeful Texas Christian plays at Texas on Thanksgiving in the Longhorn opponent spot formerly occupied by Texas A&M. Texas can’t win the Big 12 but has won three straight games since a 23-0 loss to Kansas State and can do the selection committee a favor by clarifying the league race.

2. The Territorial Cup rises to unprecedented stature Friday as Arizona State plays at Arizona in a game that will decide the Pac-12 South if Stanford defeats UCLA. The games will run simultaneously on competing networks, ABC and Fox, so be prepared to flip.

3. The Southeastern Conference East will also be decided Friday when Arkansas travels to Missouri in an unexpected big game. Missouri clinches the division with a win over Arkansas, which has won two straight SEC games after losing 17 in a row. A Missouri loss gives the division to Georgia.

4. A few weeks ago the Egg Bowl looked like the game of the year as Mississippi State and Mississippi were both undefeated and ranked in the top three. Four combined losses later, three-loss Mississippi can only ruin its rivals’ national title hopes.

5. Make sure to clear enough television recording space in advance of a murderer’s row of Saturday rivalry games: Michigan at Ohio State, Georgia Tech at Georgia, Florida at Florida State, Notre Dame at USC, South Carolina at Clemson, Auburn at Alabama, Oregon at Oregon State and Washington at Washington State.