Jay, I assume you see that Charlie Harbison has been added as Auburn's co-defensive coordinator. At 53, he's a real spring chicken, compared to Ellis. I assume Ellis needs him to put numbers into his cell phone and explain Twitter to him (again).

As for the movies, with a toddler in the house, I would add "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the stop-motion classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and the Dolly Madison-shilling "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown."

In other SEC coaching news, The Associated Press reports that Ellis Johnson has been named luckiest man in the world. After taking Southern Miss from the castle to the outhouse, he leaves Hattiesburg with $2.1 million in his pocket and a $100,000-a-year RAISE to be Auburn DC. This is an inspiration to the rest of us. Fail your way to victory, boys.

Jay, as a proud Auburn alum, I'm sure you are pleased to welcome 4-star LB Cassanova McKinzy, a man with his eyes on the prize, if the prize is a delicious chicken sammich. McKinzy put on the Auburn hat after discovering the Clemson campus did not have a Chick-fil-a. While Clemson actually does have a Chick-fil-a, the fact that recruiters never mentioned it shows Clemson's priorities are out of whack. War Eagle and pass the waffle fries!

I'll do some also-rans for 2011

Athlete: Peyton Manning. If you are an Indy player not named Peyton, you don't matter.

Coach: Bobby Cox. Braves players loved No. 6 about one game more in 2010 than they did his replacement in 2011.

Team: Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley. Working together they continued to bore the few remaining fight fans. Meanwhile, in an alternate universe where boxing matters, Pacquiao-Mayweather thrilled.

Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, I guess.

My beloved Eagles survived their trip to paradise, with UNC-bound Coach Fedora looking ridiculous in the lei I assume he was forced to wear at gunpoint. Nice crowd shots. Looked like a church on Super Bowl Sunday.

While most of these bowl match-ups (including the USM-Nevada tilt) are who-cares fiascoes, a hat tip to the bare-knuckle brawls put on by the baby Louisiana teams UL-Lafayette and La. Tech. UL-L took San Diego State out in the New Orleans Bowl, while TCU came out flat and nearly got its clock cleaned by La. Tech in the Poinsettia.

Must be all the gumbo they eat. Is Louisiana the new Florida?

Merry Christmas, Jay. And best wishes for 2012. (You played Augusta again? Somebody call the cops, I think that lottery is rigged!)

As for Ellis Johnson to Southern Miss, I'm most happy that I work with a Gamecock who personally blames me for losing him. Now, where can I steal an offensive coordinator? ....

Can't fault your logic on picking Nevada. ... Of course, a lot of folks took Houston, laying 14. With those offenses, it's a sucker bet either way. Boy, reviewing my picks I notice I decided to eat a ton of points. In the cold light of day, I'm tempted to rethink my Boise pick. Maybe I've just seen them bullyboy too many mediocre teams.

Gee, it's almost like there's not a lot of internal logic to the NCAA ... Oh well, off to DVR the Hawaii Bowl.