Play it forward: Week ahead in college football

Five things to watch this week in college football:

1: Texas A&M; at Alabama could be a dress rehearsal for a possible BCS title game between Oregon and Alabama. The high-scoring team from College Station will take its up-tempo offense into Tuscaloosa with a run-and-gun quarterback, Johnny Manziel, who originally committed to Oregon.

2: How long can Notre Dame keep living on the edge? The Irish have escaped two overtime games this season to become 9-0 for the first time since 1993. This week’s game at Boston College seems like a mismatch, but so did Saturday’s home game against Pittsburgh.

3: Kansas State’s path to an undefeated season may have hit a serious pothole with the undisclosed injury to star quarterback Collin Klein in Saturday’s game against Oklahoma State. The timing couldn’t be worse as the team faces Texas Christian this week in Fort Worth.

4: Oregon State visits Stanford on Saturday in what could be a playoff for this year’s Rose Bowl if Oregon is lost to the BCS title game. The tricky part is both teams still must play Oregon and would have to finish in the BCS top 14 to be eligible for an at-large bid to the Rose Bowl.

5: Oregon’s trip to visiting California on Saturday doesn’t seem like much of a contest. Two years ago, however, the Ducks barely escaped Berkeley with a 15-13 victory. It was the fewest points Oregon scored all season en route to a 22-19 loss to Auburn in the BCS title game.

—Chris Dufresne