Play it forward: Stanford opens its season with San Jose State

Five things to watch this week in college football.

1. Stanford avoided a first weekend upset because its season doesn’t begin until next Saturday against San Jose State. Watch out, though, because last year’s game was 17-17 in the fourth quarter before Stanford won with a field goal.

2. No. 10 Florida visits Miami in one of the most intriguing early-season matchups. Florida’s offense still isn’t firing right, but Miami has an emerging star in running back Duke Johnson, who rushed for 186 yards in the Hurricanes’ opener.

3. South Carolina at Georgia marks the Southeastern Conference’s first mega-matchup. Georgia is coming off a tough loss to Clemson and needs a win to keep its national title hopes alive. South Carolina needs star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney to play harder.

4. Oregon cruised past Nicholls State, 66-3, but the season starts to get semi-serious this week when the Ducks travel cross-country to play Virginia. The Cavaliers went 4-8 last year but scored a nice, home-opening win against Brigham Young.

5. Notre Dame gave Brian Kelly a new contract after Saturday’s win over Temple. The school might have wanted to wait a week after Kelly said Sunday of next Saturday’s game at Michigan: “I really haven’t seen it as one of those historic, traditional Notre Dame rivalries.” Bulletin board anyone?

chris.dufresne@latimes.com