Play it forward: Five things to watch in college football

Five things to watch this week in college football:

1: Alabama can’t meet Oregon until the Bowl Championship Series title game, but we can draw a common-opponent comparison when Tennessee visits Tuscaloosa next week. Oregon dismantled Tennessee, 59-14, in Eugene in September. The Ducks had a 59-7 lead after three quarters and pulled starting quarterback Marcus Mariota.

2: Oregon’s race to the title game starts Saturday when it hosts UCLA in Eugene. The Ducks close the Pac-12 season with UCLA, Stanford, Utah, Arizona and Oregon State, teams with a combined 25-8 record. Oregon’s first seven opponents are a combined 22-27.

3: Now Missouri becomes the Show-Us State. The Tigers are 7-0 and jumped nine spots to No. 5 in the Associated Press poll on the heels of consecutive victories against Georgia and Florida. Missouri has a two-game lead in the Southeastern Conference East but will be tested this week at home against South Carolina.

4: This is also the week we find out about Texas Tech, which is 7-0 and ranked No. 10 under first-year Coach Kliff Kingsbury. The Red Raiders have not defeated a team that is currently ranked but will play one this week when they travel to No. 17 Oklahoma.

5: No. 8 Stanford parlayed a bounce-back win over UCLA and five losses in the top 10 to get back in the national chase as the highest-ranked one-loss team. The Cardinal must not, however, overlook this week’s trip to Oregon State (6-1) before its Nov. 7 showdown with Oregon in Palo Alto.