(Photo Courtesy: USA Today Sports)

It’s “MAC Week” here at Crystal Ball Run, and if there’s one certainty about this league through the years, it’s that it’s become known as somewhat of a cradle for future college football coaching superstars. In the same way that every great actor seems to have done a random two-episode stint at General Hospital at some point in their careers, it seems like every major college football coach has had a bit of #MACtion flowing through their veins at some point along the way as well.

The list of current and former head coaches who have served MAC apprentices is staggering. Nick Saban went 9-2 in one year at Toledo. Urban Meyer won a combined 17 games in two seasons at Bowling Green. Brian Kelly won a MAC Championship in 2006 at Central Michigan, while Brady Hoke was head coach for six years at Ball State, which paved the way to San Diego State before he returned to Michigan.

At some point, all those guys were all MAC nobodies, who eventually turned into college football somebodies down the line.

So who is the next wave of coaching superstars currently serving MAC apprenticeships?

Crystal Ball Run takes a look at the league’s three newest coaches.

Photo Courtesy: USA Today Sports/Andrew Weber

It's MAC Week here at CBR and personally I'm pretty geeked about it. After all, there's a reason why #MACtion has become all the rage amongst the college football geeks out there and why the casual fan is starting to catch on. It's because they know what I know - on any given Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and the occasional Saturday as well we are likely to see just about anything go down. 

It's what makes the higher-up's at the MAC conference offices and the coaches willing to play along geniuses. They've got a great platform all to their own and now, for the most part they've got four or five teams that can compete on a pretty high level. NIU played three quarters of great football in the conference's first ever BCS birth before bowing to the physically superior FSU squad in the Orange Bowl and the profile of the conference hasn't been higher than it is in 2013.

With anything and everything possible in this conference it makes coming up with a set of games that will mean the most very difficult. However, the scheduling gods have also helped by matching up some of the best teams in both divisions this season. So, while MACtion may lay waste to how we see things play out, the games below are sure to play a part in all the narratives and more.

Photo: USA Today Sports

Most of us have been there before. We have a nice relationship with somebody, share a few laughs and lovable memories we believe we will cherish forever. Then, out of the blue, that relationship is over. You go your separate ways and look for reasons to feel better about your future now that the other is removed from the picture, but deep down inside you are curious what they are up to. You secretly hope that you find happiness before they do and you may even look forward to the day when you can flaunt your new and improved self and life in front of the one who left you. It's petty, but likely true.

It may be safe to say that Brady Hoke is playing the role of the scorned lover right now. Notre Dame won the break-up.

Michigan's head coach, never one to shy away from taking shots at Wolverine rivals (for example, referring to Ohio State simply as Ohio), aimed his latest shots in the direction of Notre Dame by suggesting the Fighting Irish were "chickening out" of future games against the Wolverines.

"We are fortunate to have unbelievable rivalry games at Michigan," Hoke said to a group of Michigan supporters and alums on Monday. "The Notre Dame game, that rivalry, which they're chickening out of. They're still going to play Michigan State, they're going to play Purdue, but they don't want to play Michigan. I don't know how they made that decision."

Crystal Ball Run will be previewing each conference for the 2013 season with week-by-week coverage. Today we continue our 2013 conference previews with a look at the MAC.

The MAC has become sort of a cult favorite in the college football world. Some would call it a lifestyle choice, while others might call it an obsession. Either way, the MAC has given college football fans everywhere something to watch during the week and rewarding those of us who commit to watching college football during the week with highlights that may be overshadowed on Saturdays. Last season the dedicated fans of the conference were rewarded by seeing Northern Illinois bring #MACtion to the BCS. Will the conference be able to duplicate that BCS formula in 2013 as Northern Illinois looks to capture a third consecutive conference championship? Or will another MAC program rise to the occasion and prevent the Huskies from being the first three-peat conference champion since Marshall won four straight titles between 1997 and 2000?

(Photo Courtesy: USA Today)

Admittedly, Crystal Ball Run isn’t normally a source of late-breaking high school baseball news, but then again there’s nothing normal about Louisiana high school pitcher Manny Miles.

For one, the sophomore from University High School in Baton Rouge is an emerging star, and on Friday night threw his second no-hitter of the 2013 season in a 12-1 victory over Cavalry Baptist High School.

However the real story wasn’t Manny Miles, so much as the presence of his father in the stands, a man known to the college football world simply as “The Mad Hatter.” That man is of course LSU head football coach Les Miles, who was in attendance to see his son’s performance on Friday night.

(Photo Courtesy: USA Today Sports)

After spending the last five days reviewing the new “American,” it’s time for the Crystal Ball Run staff to make their conference championship picks.

(Photo Courtesy: USA Today Sports)

This past week, Crystal Ball Run has given you an all-encompassing look at college football’s newest conference, “The American.” We’ve discussed key players, the league’s bizarre scheduling quirks and even the biggest and most exciting games to mark on your calendar.

And today it’s time to complete our look-ahead to the 2013 season in the American. Later we’ll be making our conference championship picks, and below we’ve listed our projected All-Conference picks.  

Please note that all players are listed by the class which they will be entering during the 2013 season, but all stats are from the 2012 season.

Enjoy, and as always feel free to let us know what you think of our selections in the comments section below. Also feel free to make fun of us when the actual All-Conference teams are selected in December.

Texas A&M has big plans for the redevelopment of its legendary home, Kyle Field.

A&M is pouring $450 million into eye-popping improvements that will make its home field the biggest in the SEC

But Sam Torn, one of the chairs of the redevelopment committee for the stadium, revealed in an interview with TexAgs.com published on Wednesday that the Aggies have more devious intentions than simply building a nice stadium:

It’s a fact of life in any conference: You’re going to have to travel at some point.

Now, some leagues have teams that don’t travel much at all save for the conference away games. Those teams are big enough that they don’t have to hit the road, or are very selective about the non-conference tilts they do play away from home.

But with this latest round of realignment, some teams are going to have to travel more—a lot more.

This is the case with the American Athletic Conference. The American stretches from Connecticut to Texas, and covers eight states currently. It is spread out almost as far for football as the old Western Athletic Conference was.

Here at Crystal Ball Run, we wanted to see who has to travel the farthest this season? Which school’s fans might be racking up the frequent flier miles to go see their team? So we looked at the schedules for everyone, pulled out their road games and used mapping software to cover the distance from campus to the opponent’s stadium for each road game. Mileage listed is in driving miles from campus to stadium as opposed to the closest airport. The list is presented from shortest aggregate travel distance to longest travel distance.