The big man in the red suit is about to circumnavigate the globe, delivering presents to anywhere between 500-900 million children worldwide – a feat of logistics and long-haul shipping that surely makes the mega-delivery companies blanch.

Kids have written letters to K. Kringle addressed to the North Pole for months now, and surely the reindeer have been prepped for the journey that awaits. But what if the remaining Big Ten football programs in the College Football Playoff added their last-minute wish lists to the stack? What would Santa Claus bring to Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State – and what would those Christmas Wish List letters to Mrs. Claus’ husband look like?

Ohio State Buckeyes

Dear Santa,

First, we would like to address our Buckeye Nation fan base. Yes, we know they have certainly felt more than a bit naughty the last couple of weeks after we lost to Michigan – but that’s kinda how they get after losing to That Team Up North year after year. And we also know they don’t really want our coach, Ryan Day, to lose his job. They just get sideways seeing Maize and Blue flags at midfield and whatnot. So please move those misguided souls back to the nice list?

We also have a couple of humble Christmas wishes for ourselves if you get the chance. First, would it be too much to ask for Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel to come up with some sort of rare rose allergy? We weren’t much able to contain him back on Oct. 12, as he threw for 341 yards and was only hurried twice, so for him to get a nasty case of the sniffles upon arrival in Arroyo Seco would be awesome.

Also, Santa, we would love some more bulletin board material like Tennessee gift-wrapped to us leading up to our first-round Playoff game against them. Nothing fires Coach Day and all us Buckeyes up quite like disrespect – and boy, did Volunteers fans who showed up in Columbus last week give us plenty.

Thanks, Santa. Go Bucks!

The Ohio State University

Penn State Nittany Lions

Dear Santa,

We know we are supposed to be asking for Christmas gifts here, but we want to start with a gift for you – a pint of fresh Peppermint Stick ice cream from the Penn State Berkey Creamery will be by the tree for your enjoyment!

We are such the giving spirit, seeing as how the Playoff committee gave us arguably the easiest road into the semifinals – dealing us No. 3 seed Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Yeah, we know they are undefeated in Tempe over the years. But we also won a national title there way back when, so we like our chances.

Perhaps, once you’re refreshed from the ice cream, you could give our defense the same mojo they had against SMU last weekend – as they so flustered Mustangs QB Kevin Jennings that he just couldn’t stop throwing us the ball to us. Our defense outscored SMU 14-10 by themselves, and we could sure use more of that excellence against the Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl.

Thanks, Santa. We Are!

Pennsylvania State University

Oregon Ducks

Dear Santa,

We want to thank you again for the thoroughly awesome gift you brought us a couple years ago, a special delivery from Georgia wrapped in red-and-black paper. That Dan Lanning delivery was not only exactly what we wanted, but he continues to be our football program’s steak to go along with all our uniform- and mascot-related sizzle.

We are also very thankful for the extra rest we got, watching the rest of our B1G mates have to work last weekend in the Playoff first round. But we don’t want to have any rust against the Buckeyes in Pasadena, so could you please bring us a quick first half at the Rose Bowl? We could also use a few Ohio State turnovers, too, as we got 2 from them last time out and it really helped.

We are also going to need some fresh defensive looks to confuse Ohio State and their sneaky-good quarterback Ryan Howard. We were barely able to contain him in a 1-point victory earlier this fall, and we fear the Buckeyes are going to be able to torch us for even more than the 467 yards and 31 points they racked up in that game.

Thanks, Santa. Go Ducks!

University of Oregon