COLLEGE FOOTBALL : PLAY IT FORWARD

Five things to watch for this week:

1 Ohio State has already clinched a Rose Bowl bid while Michigan is foundering at 1-6 in Big Ten play and needs a victory to become bowl-eligible. One of sports’ best rivalries lacks its usual luster, but that won’t matter much to the players when they take the field Saturday in Ann Arbor.

2 Texas Christian, which needs two wins to cap a perfect 12-0 season, plays its last road game this week at Wyoming, which is 5-5 and coming off a win over San Diego State. Is this a trap? Wyoming led Texas late in the first half earlier this season in Laramie . . . ah, never mind.

3 Iowa’s national title and Rose Bowl hopes were dashed the last two weeks with a seven-point home loss to Northwestern and an overtime defeat at Ohio State. A closing home win against Minnesota, though, gets Iowa to 10-2 with a chance to get one of four BCS at-large bids.

4 California at Stanford is more than just “The Big Game” this week; it has ramifications. Both schools are 7-3, with Stanford needing a victory to keep its Rose Bowl hopes alive. Cal has won four of five after being humiliated by Oregon and USC in consecutive games Sept. 26 and Oct. 3.

5 Two years after losing quarterback Dennis Dixon and a shot at the national title in a heartbreaking loss at Tucson, Oregon returns to Arizona needing a victory Saturday, and another on Dec. 3 against Oregon State, to clinch the outright Pac-10 title. Arizona is still in the mix and might be unbeaten in conference if not for two freak plays in losses to Washington and Cal.

-- Chris Dufresne