Christmas is almost here.
Santa Claus already has brought the SEC football teams either what they asked for or a lump of coal – depending on whether they were naughty or nice on Saturdays throughout the Fall.
But there’s still time to brighten the spirits of each of the 14 teams regardless of whether they’re going to get what they wanted most.
Here are stocking stuffer ideas for each of the SEC football teams, in completely random order:
Vanderbilt
A desire by Derek Mason to put down roots.
The Commodores’ head coach doesn’t look like he has wandering eyes, but it’s hard for a program like Vanderbilt to keep a successful coach long-term.
Mason is in his fifth season with the Commodores, who are going to a bowl game for the second time in three years. He has beaten Tennessee three consecutive seasons.
Vanderbilt knows what it has in Mason, who received a 5-year contract extension before last season.
Other schools also know what Vanderbilt has. Colorado expressed interest in Mason before hiring Mel Tucker from Georgia earlier this month.
So far Mason seems happy where he is. Keeping things that way would make for continuing Merry Christmases in Nashville.
Tennessee
A win against Vanderbilt.
OK, the Volunteers are looking for more than that, but after three years it would be a start.
Jeremy Pruitt just unwrapped a lot of Early Signing Period recruiting gifts. A bigger gift would be for Pruitt’s tenure to resemble Phillip Fulmer’s than Butch Jones’.
Arkansas
A less-challenging nonconference schedule that doesn’t include the likes of Colorado State and North Texas.
Yeah it was a rough first season for Chad Morris, losing to those non-Power programs, but things could be on the rise. Morris’ recruiting class is highly regarded and he may have the Razorbacks on the road back to respectability.
A better record in nonconference games would be helpful to a program that didn’t win any SEC games this season.
Ole Miss
A clean break from the final stages of NCAA probation.
Matt Luke has done a nice job of holding things together in the wake of the Hugh Freeze scandals.
Now it’s time for the Rebels to turn a corner.
The next step would be a bowl berth in their return to bowl eligibility next season.
How about a game with Liberty?
South Carolina
An end to its 5-game losing streak against Kentucky.
Five consecutive? To Kentucky?
How does that happen?
Sure the Wildcats are good this year, real good. They’ve been gradually improving under Mark Stoops.
But five in a row is too many for a program that has been doing pretty well in its own right under Will Muschamp.
Missouri
More people who see what Kelly Bryant saw in the Tigers program.
When the Clemson quarterback chose to find another school after being beaten out, he could have gone a lot of places. Missouri certainly wasn’t a presumed destination. In fact, it wasn’t a leader on Bryant’s list.
But once he got there he liked what he saw from the Tigers. He took them seriously. He chose them.
Now an 8-4 bowl team has a big-time successor to Drew Lock as it continues to establish an identity in the SEC.
Auburn
A bounce-back season.
The Tigers beat Alabama, won the SEC West and played for the conference title last season.
They were expected to have similar success this season.
They didn’t.
They struggled at 7-5 and Gus Malzahn’s job suddenly wasn’t all that secure, though he did survive.
But offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey left for Kansas, of all places.
When Kansas offers greener pastures, even with Les Miles grazing them, there’s a lot of bouncing back to be done on The Plains.
Mississippi State
Fewer players whose careers start the way Jeffery Simmons’ did and more players whose careers end the way Jeffery Simmons’ is.
The Bulldogs gave him a second chance. He took advantage of it.
He recognized how fortunate he was to be able to continue his career and be successful enough to be able to leave early for the NFL.
But he showed gratitude and respect to his university on the way out. He even chose to stick around for the bowl game when many of his peers don’t.
Simmons’ career had a rough start but an exemplary ending.
Kentucky
Enough sustained football success that people don’t automatically crack jokes about the start of basketball season every time the Wildcats’ football team hits a bump in the road.
Kentucky hasn’t had a lot of football success in a long time. When it does have some, it’s often dismissed as an aberration, which it often is.
But this is a growing program that had a big-time season in 2018.
Maybe these guys can keep this going for a while.
Florida
A palatable way to settle this whole UCF thing.
It seems unlikely that these two in-state rivals are going to be able to schedule any regular-season meetings under circumstances acceptable to both schools.
But pairing them in a bowl game in Florida in the near future would enable fans to see a matchup that likely will not otherwise happen because of politics.
And it would give the Gators an opportunity to demonstrate whether they are the No. 1 program in the state without having to make any scheduling compromises they are uncomfortable with.
LSU
A quarterback.
A really, really good quarterback.
Joe Burrow was a nice quarterback this year. He might be a better one next year. But he doesn’t look like he’s going to be a really, really good one.
Someday Myles Brennan could be the quarterback. Maybe he’ll be really, really good.
But it doesn’t really matter who it is. Just give these guys a really, really good quarterback for a change.
Texas A&M
A copy of the book, “Sideline Decorum for Dummies.”
The Aggies’ signature victory in coach Jimbo Fisher’s first season was an epic 74-72, 7-overtime win against LSU in the regular-season finale at Kyle Field.
The understandably emotional post-game celebration was marred by shouting and pushing that involved personnel from both schools.
The most highly publicized incident involved Fisher’s nephew, Cole, shoving Tigers assistant Steve Kragthorpe.
Coach Fisher has done a lot of winning in his career and presumably A&M is learning to take exceptional wins in stride.
Georgia
A return trip to the Allstate Sugar Bowl next season.
A trip to the Sugar Bowl is generally a nice deal, especially for an SEC team.
But when you play in the SEC Championship for a berth in the College Football Playoff and narrowly lose a year after losing the CFP title game in overtime, well, meeting Texas in the Sugar Bowl just isn’t that big a deal.
But next year the national championship game is in the Sugar Bowl.
And that’s what Georgia aspires to.
After two consecutive outstanding seasons that ended in disappointment a trip back to New Orleans a year from now would mean happy holidays for Kirby Smart’s crew.
Alabama
What do you get for the football program that has everything?
A place-kicker.
No seriously. A place-kicker. A really good, consistent place-kicker.
The Tide always has linemen and linebackers and defensive backs, running backs, receiver, quarterbacks, even tight ends. Usually more than they need.
But then there’s that kicking thing.
It doesn’t show up as that big a deal with a team that wins so easily so often. But one day it might. It very nearly did in last year’s National Championship Game.
At the very least, shoring up perhaps the only less-than-elite position on the team would satisfy Nick Saban’s relentless pursuit of perfection.
Santa, give the man a really good kicker, for goodness sakes.
Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.
