For years, the MAC and other mid-major conferences have fought for the respect and credibility they felt they deserved.  As a result of that hard work, some great players have emerged.  Jason Taylor, Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich, and Ben Roethlisberger all made their debuts for MAC teams.  So to open this season, I'm taking a look at who could be the next MAC alum to make an impact playing on Sundays.

Five MAC players you may not know, but you will before the season ends...

Known simply in Columbus, Ann Arbor, and every place in-between as "The Game", Ohio State and Michigan meet in the regular season finale for both teams again. And, as is usually the case, the stakes are very high.

The Buckeyes can claim no worse than a share of the Big 10 crown, and will be
assured of a spot in one of the big BCS game with a win. The Wolverines, who were
thought to have been reduced to a pure spoiler role, have risen back up into the
conference race. The turning point of the Wolverines season has to be when Chad
Henne threw a touchdown pass on the last play of the game against Penn State to
knock them from the ranks of the undefeated a month ago.

Players always hope a conference title will come down to one game. Controlling your own destiny, you know?

Conference championship games make that an easy proposition, but you have to have 12 teams to get a conference title game, and even then you have to win one of the two divisions just to get there.