The week ahead in college football

Five things to watch this week in college football:

1. Texas vs. Texas A&M might be on last legs as a storied series, but it appears the Big 12 preservationists club will be able to save Texas-Oklahoma. This week’s Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl gets cranked up a few deep-fried turkey legs as both teams enter undefeated.

2. Florida had the misfortune on this year’s Southeastern Conference schedule to be the school designated to play Alabama and Louisiana State in consecutive weeks. After being manhandled at home by Alabama on Saturday, Florida ventures to Baton Rouge to play the Associated Press’ top-ranked team.

3. Ohio State at Nebraska looked like the game of the year in the Big Ten … last April. That was before Ohio State’s program imploded, Jim Tressel resigned and the Buckeyes fell to 3-2 after a home loss to Michigan State. Nebraska’s top-10 cover was blown with Saturday night’s lop-sided loss at Wisconsin.

4. How do you like the Pacific 12 so far? Utah, which figured to struggle a bit in its transition from the Mountain West Conference, is in danger of falling to 0-3 in the Pac 12 South as it hosts 4-1 Arizona State on Saturday. Utah has already dropped league games to USC and Washington.

5. Oregon State, the only winless team among the six Bowl Championship Series power conferences, has a decent chance to get in the win column when 1-4 Arizona visits Corvallis. If the Beavers can’t pull this one out, the prospect of going 0-12 this season becomes a possibility.