Chris Dufresne's five things to watch in college football

1 Here's a question you don't hear very often: Where is Vanderbilt playing next? The Commodores are 5-0 for the first time since 1943, closing in on their first bowl appearance in 25 years and standing alone in the Southeastern Conference's rugged East Division ahead of Florida and Georgia. Problem is Vanderbilt has to play both schools down the road, but this week it's down the road to Mississippi State.

2 It's not often that the last two national champions meet during the regular season, but it's happening this weekend in Gainesville when Florida plays host to Louisiana State in The Swamp. Before the game, maybe the schools can swap stories about what it was like beating Ohio State for the Bowl Championship Series national title.

3 Oklahoma didn't overlook Baylor, and Texas didn't overlook Colorado, and that means Saturday's annual State Fair game between Oklahoma and Texas at the Cotton Bowl is a split-down-the-middle grudge match between No. 1 and No. 5 with major Big 12 Conference and national title implications.

4 Not sure we'd want to be 2-3 Tennessee this week after the Volunteers struggled to beat Northern Illinois, 13-9, in Knoxville and now have a road date against Georgia, which had a week off to stew over its humiliating home loss to Alabama. Given that Tennessee handed Georgia one of its two losses last year, throw the revenge factor into that stew.

5 With the Cubs out of the World Series chase, the city of Chicago can turn its unwavering passion to . . . Northwestern football? OK, maybe not, but there is a good game in Evanston this week when the 5-0 Wildcats play host to 5-1 Michigan State in an showdown of schools that are somewhat surprisingly in contention for this year's Big Ten title.

-- Chris Dufresne