Chris Dufresne’s Play It Forward

Five things to watch this week in college football:

1: Next Sunday’s final release of the Bowl Championship Series could swing from predictable if Oregon and Auburn win on Saturday, to dramatic if one or both schools lose. That could send Texas Christian to the BCS title game against Oregon, Auburn or…Stanford?

2: The Civil War. Each of the last two seasons, Oregon State needed only a victory against Oregon to earn its first Rose Bowl berth since the 1964 season. Oregon State lost both times, but now gets the satisfaction of trying to knock Oregon out of the national title and into the Rose Bowl.

3: Auburn needs to defeat three-loss South Carolina in next week’s Southeastern Conference title game to earn a title-game trip — but it won’t be easy. Gamecocks’ Coach Steve Spurrier has the title-game experience advantage over Auburn’s Gene Chizik, who owns the advantage at starting quarterback.

4: Washington’s win over California on Saturday means the Huskies will be bowl eligible at 6-6 if they can win Saturday’s Apple Cup at Washington State. It would be a remarkable turnaround after finishing 0-12 two seasons ago.

5: Florida State faces Virginia Tech for the Atlantic Coast Conference title in Charlotte on Saturday. Stanford fans might be interested because the Cardinal could be playing the winner in this year’s Orange Bowl.

— Chris Dufresne