Chris Dufresne’s Play It Forward

Five things to watch for this week:

1 The status of senior quarterback Tim Tebow will be the question when top-ranked Florida plays at No. 4 Louisiana State in the biggest SEC game so far this season. Tebow had a bye week to recover from the concussion suffered Sept. 26 against Kentucky, but you have to worry about risking a player whose style is so headstrong.

2 USC and Notre Dame, both 4-1, have the week off to rest up for the Oct. 17 game in South Bend. Since the classic “Bush Push” game of 2005, USC has won three games by a total margin of 120-27. Is this the year we get another classic?

3 Michigan invades undefeated Iowa for homecoming and hopes to take a 5-1 record back home to Ann Arbor. Both teams are still Big Ten mystery meat and this game should help separate the top sirloin from the hamburger helper.

4 Can anyone stop Alabama? After cruising to victories against two slices of the SEC’s lower crust, Arkansas and Kentucky, the Crimson Tide hits the heart of the schedule starting this week at Mississippi. After that, Alabama plays South Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana State.

5 Thursday night lights. Nebraska heads to Missouri in a key Big 12 North battle in the race to keep pace with divisional leader Kansas State. What? OK, Kansas State is 1-0 and none of the contenders have opened conference play.

-- Chris Dufresne

chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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