The first year selling trees didn’t go as planned for one North Texas man.

Tim Miller, co-owner of Hidden Honey Farm in Midlothian, still had more than half of his inventory earlier this week. But he made the best of a tough situation.

One after another, families kept Miller busy picking, preparing and packing up trees— just in time for Christmas.

All of a sudden, trees were flying off the lot. But that wasn’t the case just days before.

With more than 100 Douglas firs still standing, Miller said sales had come to a grinding halt.

“Four days straight with no one,” Miller said.

With Christmas quickly approaching, he had a decision to make.

“We have two options: We’re going to have to dispose of 100 plus trees, or I can give them away and somebody will get some use out of them, so that’s what we decided to do,” he said.

On Tuesday, Miller posted on Facebook: “Our first year of selling Christmas trees didn’t go as well as we had hoped for… If anyone doesn’t have a tree, or knows of someone who needs a tree, they are free for the taking.”

Families who otherwise couldn’t afford a tree began showing up—and word spread quickly.

“I thought, ‘Hey, I wanted to get a Christmas tree for our house anyway. Let’s go get one!’” said Miriam Beachy, holding her 1-year-old son Jeremiah.

Miller said the response was overwhelming, with donations pouring in from across the country.

“All over! Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, California, somehow or another, people have seen our post and said, you know, we’d like to help,” he said. “I had no idea we would get the results that we have.”

In just two days, all 120 trees found their “fir”-ever homes.

“It really felt like a gift,” Beachy said.

“The appreciation that they have, and I know there’s results I’ll never know of,” Miller added.

He’s still deciding whether to sell trees again next Christmas, but said after the feedback and support he’s received, he’s leaning toward it.

Joey McGuire has worn many hats over his career through the high school and college coaching ranks, but he’s looking to add a new one: Commissioner of fixing the college football calendar.

The fourth-year head coach jokingly offered his name up for the self-imposed fake title Wednesday during a media availability, but his frustration with the current format is real. He believes every team should play Week 0, that a champion should be crowned by Jan. 1 and bowl games should be invitationals set for Week 1.

McGuire’s team had a historic season, winning a Big 12 title and earning a bye in the College Football Playoff. Its reward is 26 days of non-compete before playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 1. McGuire loves it for player health. He hates it because it makes football a two-semester sport.

“Texas high school playoffs are playing 16 games, and they’re crowning a state champion this weekend. FCS has 24 teams in their playoff and they’re crowning a national champion on January 5,” McGuire said. “People are so stuck on traditions and all that. I get that, man. I’m a traditionalist 100%. But guess what? It’s changed.”

By finishing the season on Jan. 1, teams would be able to seamlessly transition into the transfer portal, which opens on Jan. 2, he said. This doesn’t eliminate the unpredictable coaching changes that can happen at programs competing in the playoff, but McGuire argues that unfavorable personnel changing is inevitable regardless of calendar shifts.

Many programs with general managers can handle the current overlap of playoffs and the portal window. Some programs’ philosophies, such as Texas Tech’s, separate the responsibilities while in season. McGuire’s job in recruiting extends only as far as daily texts at this stage in the season, while general manager James Blanchard is working 20-plus-hour days on recruiting trails.

However, only 12 teams are playing for a national championship in December. The rest of the country is either finished with its season or competing in bowl games with a withered staff and roster due to opt-outs and the rapid coaching carousel.

McGuire has his solution ready for that problem.

“How about moving the bowl games to an invitation? And that would be week one, Aug. 23, and we’re playing bowl games Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” McGuire said. “ … You’re going to lose a home game, but you still would have a huge attraction TV-wise. It would be a big watch because you know everybody’s dying for college football week one.”

As McGuire stated, the invitational bowl game would erase a home game for teams. But McGuire wouldn’t be a successful commissioner if he didn’t have a solution to ensure teams could fill out their schedules as they pleased.

“We’ve got these kids all summer long. Camp doesn’t need to be a month long,” McGuire said. “We can play zero week, and you know rock and roll.”

Unfortunately for the hopeful-minded “commissioner,” changes in the college football calendar start with the networks, which he does not work with. However, McGuire said he will speak on the subject whenever given the chance because the conversation starts with him and other college football coaches being outspoken in a time of change.

Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1 SEC) is three days away from hosting Miami (10-2) in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday afternoon, as this will be the first appearance in the tournament for both programs, and by far the best game of the weekend outside of Alabama vs. Oklahoma on Friday night.

This week, Texas A&M’s media team teased the fan base and those of us in the media, changing the Texas A&M Football X page’s profile picture to a blacked-out Texas A&M emblem. Still, on Wednesday, the team released a video showing the CFP symbol printed on the standard Maroon jersey, which likely means the Aggies will go with their regular home look.

However, nothing is set in stone until the final uniform reveal, which will likely release on Thursday afternoon, so for those hoping for a blackout, which would be a first during an early afternoon kickoff, that scenario is still in play. Still, it won’t matter which uniform the Aggies play in, knowing that Miami will field a roster chock-full of NFL talent on both sides of the ball.

For Texas A&M to defend home field, starting quarterback Marcel Reed need to avoid turnovers and play with confidence in the pocket, knowing that Miami star defensive end Rueben Bain is looking to cause havoc in the backfield, meaning Reed will need to get the ball out of hands seconds after the snap, and rely on his elite wide receiver corps to make plays after the catch.