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BYU football players celebrate with fans after a 38-9 victory against No. 13 Kansas State at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU players huddle up before the non-conference game against Wyoming in Laramie on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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BYU senior wide receiver Kody Epps (0) and other players run onto the field before the game against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU players celebrate with freshman defensive back Tommy Prassas after he returned a fumble for a touchdown during the Big 12 game against Kansas State at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.

Marci Harris, Special to the Herald

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BYU players sing the fight song with their fans after the Big 12 game against Baylor at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU players prepare to take the field before the Big 12 game against Baylor at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU football fans could probably think of a number of things they would love for the Cougars to discover wrapped up under their tree at the Student Athlete Building on Christmas morning.

How about a Big 12 championship trophy with a bright blue bow on top? Or, even better, the national championship trophy?

(Sorry, everyone … Santa Claus doesn’t bring those. They have to be earned on the field.)

But BYU certainly wouldn’t complain if they found a top-ranked recruit decked out in blue and white.

Or maybe magic cleats for the entire team that never slipped regardless of weather conditions.

How about an “ugly-Christmas-sweater”-themed uniform combo? It’s probably coming, folks, like it or not.

While there are plenty of fun ideas from the pinnacle of success to the quirky and outrageous, they don’t really reflect the reality of things the Cougars really need.

Here are five things that BYU football really wants for Christmas this year:

1. Leaders with talent and loyalty.

Just like everywhere in college football these days, many of the best Cougar athletes had opportunities before the 2024 season to leave and chase potentially bigger paychecks, either in pro football or at other schools.

But it made an enormous difference that guys like Connor Pay, Tyler Batty, Chase Roberts and others show through their actions how much they believed in BYU, both as a football program and as a university.

Those leaders set a tone in Provo with both their on-field play and locker room presence that others will need to maintain in the coming seasons, which is why this has to be high on the wishlist.

2. Coaches who combine consistency with effectiveness.

Whenever something goes wrong, coordinators and coaches often bear the brunt of the blame from fans. Everyone seems to think that somehow getting someone else will come in and fix all the problems.

The reality is more nuanced. Players that have time with coordinators and position coaches can often are on the same page, so switching schemes can be confusing and costly.

The ideal for coaches is to be dedicated to the team, be willing to learn new things and innovate, know the types of players you are looking for and develop them, and then combine it all on the field.

BYU appears to have a good balance of those things right now, so continuity and improvement are what would be best for the Cougars to get this year.

3. An elite, four-quarter performance in the Alamo Bowl.

It would be easy to just wish for a victory in the final game of the 2024 season, but that can be a little misleading. Winning is the goal but it’s better to win when you play at a high level.

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake has talked all season about how excited he is to see what his team can do if it puts together four good quarters of football. It’s something the Cougars have struggled to do, usually settling for 2-3 good quarters per game at best.

While BYU will be missing a few contributors who have left the program or gotten hurt, for the most part the core group is intact. The Cougars should be healthy and ready to go, which means seeing them play well for 60 minutes would make for a great conclusion to the year.

4. Returning players who maximize the offseason, becoming more reliable and successful.

It seems like an eternity ago but BYU faced some big doubts coming into the 2024 season. Observers wondered if Jake Retzlaff could be a winning quarterback, if the Cougar defense could ever get much disruption, whether the BYU offensive line could hold up particularly through injuries, and a host of other question marks.

Now, in December, it’s clear that a lot of the Cougar players put in tremendous effort since the end of 2023 to get better and it paid big dividends as BYU had a great season.

It makes sense to wish to see that happen again before 2025, particularly with a returning starting quarterback, an intriguing linebacking corps, solid special teams and a collection of proven playmakers.

If the Cougars see many of those guys make big strides again, BYU could have a legitimate shot at building on its 2024 success and continuing to be near the top of the Big 12 conference.

5. National parameters on big issues based on common sense.

This is the item that legitimately could be on every college athletic program’s wishlist, since there are so many challenges and disagreements on how things should be done — and the lawsuits keeping adding gasoline to the inferno.

The real losers in the way court decisions have brought about anarchy are the athletes themselves, although that’s not always readily apparent. The greed, the emotional duress and anxiety of life-changing decisions, the lack of transparency and the impact of systemic abuses are all out of control.

College athletics needs more effective structure and discipline to maximize the experience for the student-athletes, on and off the field. The wish that organizations like the conferences, the NCAA and the U.S. legislature could come together and hammer out some common-sense rules may be a pipe dream, but it would be best for everyone in the long run.