One impressive gift for the devout college football fan this Christmas season would have been the ability to fast-forward to next year, when a slew of Southeastern Conference games will involve coaches returning to former locales.

Auburn's Tommy Tuberville has made old hat of this scenario, venturing to Ole Miss four times since bolting Oxford after the 1998 season to coach the Tigers. He has won all four such meetings and makes a fifth trip next fall, but he now has company.

A lot of company.

There was significant publicity in early November when Alabama's Nick Saban faced his former team, LSU, in Tuscaloosa. It will be just as big, if not bigger, next year when Saban takes his Crimson Tide to Baton Rouge.

Houston Nutt will take his Ole Miss team to Arkansas a year after taking his Arkansas team to Ole Miss, and then there is Bobby Petrino.

The new Arkansas coach was in his first year at Louisville when he secretly met with Auburn officials in November 2003 to discuss a position that never became available once Auburn defeated Alabama a few days later. That Petrino went behind Tuberville's back (an act that left some Ole Miss fans feeling justified) led to a falling out between the two, and their teams square off next year in Auburn.

Yes, fast-forwarding to the chaos that will be the SEC West next season would have made for a wonderful present. It sure would have beat the Lee Corso swimsuit calendar.

Pasquali's Pix of the top 16 bowl games worth watching in upcoming days:

1. BCS Championship
Ohio State vs. LSU
Since Notre Dame ended its season on a two-game winning streak and the Buckeyes and Tigers have one-game streaks, this again proves the Irish got cheated and the BCS is a sham. Ohio State gets another chance to do something about that winless mark against SEC teams in bowls, which now stands at 0-8, but the Buckeyes will have to do it in Louisiana. The Buckeyes will not produce another 82-yard folly like they did last January against Florida, but their improved effort still won't be enough against a healthy LSU seeking to regain its September form. LSU coach Les Miles can make for the occasional klutz, but he's 2-0 in bowls with the Tigers after whippings of Miami (40-3) and Notre Dame (41-14). Maybe it's better the Irish aren't here. Tigers 27, Buckeyes 20.

2. Sugar Bowl
Georgia vs. Hawaii
Cinderella meets Midnight Black. The Bulldogs are going Darth Vader again after the black jerseys made a successful debut against Auburn, but Georgia was just as imposing in red during a 48-13 rout of Boise State to open its 2005 season. That's the last time Georgia faced a Western Athletic Conference foe, and it resulted in a meltdown of Broncos quarterback Jared Zabransky, who blended two fumbles with four interceptions in the first half alone. Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan won't be as generous, but he'll quickly discover the Bulldogs are a tad more athletic than Northern Colorado, Charleston Southern and New Mexico State. Bulldogs 41, Warriors 24.

3. Chick-fil-A Bowl
Clemson vs. Auburn
Two sets of Tigers collide, each led by a coach who used the recent Arkansas opening as leverage for a larger paycheck. This looked like Clemson by a bunch after Tuberville canned offensive coordinator Al Borges and replaced him with Troy offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, who wouldn't dare run a spread offense with Brandon Cox, would he? That Tuberville is 41-9 the past four seasons with the way coordinators have revolved during his time on the Plains speaks volumes about the five assistants who have been with him from the start. Clemson won an orange-out against Tennessee four years ago in the Georgia Dome, but Auburn seniors need a 42nd win to become the winningest class in program history. ACC Tigers 20, SEC Tigers 17.

4. Music City Bowl
Kentucky vs. Florida State
No team needed to see the well-known Seminoles in a bowl more than Kentucky, which closed an otherwise spectacular regular season with losses to Georgia and Tennessee. Of course, Kentucky won't see many Seminoles because of a cheating scandal that mostly explains why just 43 scholarship FSU players are scheduled to be available. This means Seminoles offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher is not only the program's coach-in-waiting but the tailback-in-waiting and flanker-in-waiting. Wildcats 31, Seminoles 20.

5. Outback Bowl
Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
Wisconsin's three goals entering this game are (1) contain Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge, (2) stop Tennessee tailback Arian Foster and (3) swipe Penn State's uniforms. The Volunteers have won their last five bowl games against Big Ten teams who weren't the Nittany Lions. A victory would leave the Vols 10-4, while a loss would leave them 9-5. Either way, they've locked up an NFC wild-card bid. Nutt went 10-4 last year and went 9-5 in 2002 with Arkansas, so it's not like Phillip Fulmer would be making history, but an SEC East crown and a 10-win season certainly would put his Vols in better standing for next year. Vols 26, Badgers 19.

6. Cotton Bowl
Arkansas vs. Missouri
The Razorbacks upset top-ranked LSU, lost their head coach a couple of days later to Ole Miss, got rejected by several candidates and then landed Petrino, who was announced at an 11:30 p.m. EST news conference. Compared to last winter, when phone records, Mitch Mustain and Mustain's mom were in the headlines, these past few weeks have been tame. Defensive coordinator Reggie Herring will coach the Hogs before Petrino takes over, a situation that may or may not overshadow the Heisman finalists showdown between Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden and Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel. The Razorbacks had lost five straight bowls when they joined the SEC, and they've only been 2-6 since, though one of those wins came against Missouri in Shreveport. Tigers 37, Razorbacks 28.

7. Capital One Bowl
Florida vs. Michigan
The Wolverines often are mocked for being slow white stiffs, and they will be up against a quarterback who is not a slow white stiff. Florida fans originally thought they would be facing Illinois and former Gators coach Ron Zook, but they have gobbled up tickets with just as much zeal in hopes of spoiling Lloyd Carr's finale. This obviously will be a home game for Florida, which is coming off a 33-point bludgeoning of FSU and is poised for a prominent run in 2008. Gators 38, Wolverines 23.

8. Rose Bowl
Southern Cal vs. Illinois
Traditions make college football as much as anything, but the desire to pair the Fighting Illini with USC when the opportunity of a USC-Georgia matchup was available is a bit questionable. The Trojans and Bulldogs are the hottest teams going right now, but the pairing as it stands leaves this as ho-hum as any Rose Bowl in recent memory. As soon as the Rose bucks tradition a time or two, Pasquali will quit doing these picks on his trusty Underwood typewriter he was given as a small child in 1898. Trojans 41, Illini 17.

9. Holiday Bowl
Arizona State vs. Texas
Texas has gone from 2005 national champion to arguably the most harmless Top 25 team out there. Fortunately, these underachieving Longhorns face the Sun Devils, who may have the most underachieving athletic programs across the board considering their location and resources. It's Mack Brown vs. Dennis Erickson, so nobody's going bald in this one. Longhorns 30, Sun Devils 19.

10. Independence Bowl
Alabama vs. Colorado
Which is more amazing -- having 92,138 Alabama fans flock to a spring game to get a glimpse of Saban or having Crimson Tide fans buy out their Independence Bowl allotment of 12,000 to see a team on a four-game losing streak? The best way to look at this matchup is that it features a team that whipped Tennessee against a team that stunned Oklahoma. No matter what transpires, there is no way the halftime interview will compare to last season's query of Tide interim coach Joe Kines, who vowed to "stop that inside trap" with a passion never before witnessed in college football. Tide 31, Buffaloes 16.

11. Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma vs. West Virginia
So papa bear Bobby Bowden calls the West Virginia governor to support baby bear Terry Bowden for the Mountaineers opening, leaving Rick Trickett, another WVU candidate who currently serves as papa Bowden's offensive line coach in Tallahassee, feeling left out. Oklahoma, meanwhile, is loaded for the future and loaded for now, so this could get ugly. Sooners 38, Mountaineers 19.

12. Meineke Car Care Bowl
UConn vs. Wake Forest
Who wouldn't want this piece of hardware dominating their trophy case? This is intriguing simply because of Demon Deacons coach Jim Grobe, who has followed up last season's trip to the Orange Bowl with an 8-4 team and again has turned down offers at larger schools. Wake's 19-7 record the last two seasons dwarfs its previous two-year best of 13-8-1 set in 1987-88. Deacons 24, Huskies 22.

13. Orange Bowl
Kansas vs. Virginia Tech
There is definitely a feel-good storyline here, considering the campus tragedy Virginia Tech experienced in April and the undefeated run the Jayhawks enjoyed until their regular-season finale against Missouri. Sure, Kansas beat up on Central Michigan, Southeastern Louisiana, Toledo and Florida International out of conference and didn't have to play Oklahoma or Texas within the league, but why should facts get in the way of a storyline? Hokies 20, Jayhawks 16.

14. Humanitarian Bowl
Fresno State vs. Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech is making its 11th straight bowl appearance but is saddled with Boise's blue turf for the second time in five seasons. There also have been recent trips to the Silicon Valley Classic, Seattle Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl and Emerald Bowl, which might help explain the recent coaching change. Jackets 23, Bulldogs 21.

15. Alamo Bowl
Penn State vs. Texas A&M
This will mark the 500th game for Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who has a 22-10-1 bowl record and is the only human who has won the Rose, Orange, Fiesta, Sugar and Cotton. It also marks another game with an interim tag for Gary Darnell, who is filling in for fired Aggies coach Dennis Franchione in the same manner he filled in for Galen Hall following his ouster at Florida midway through the 1989 season. Nittany Lions 17, Aggies 10.

16. Liberty Bowl
Central Florida vs. Miss. State
ylvester Croom has earned his first bowl trip in his fourth season, and it's the first bowl for MSU overall since 2000. The Bulldogs have had difficulty getting 30,000 people to Scott Field in recent seasons, but they have at least that many fans going to Memphis. UCF'S Kevin Smith leads the nation in rushing with 2,448 yards and 188.31 yards per game, but will he be able to hear himself think amid all those cowbells? Golden Knights 34, Bullies 17.

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