After spending the last week going conference-by-conference, team-by-team, it is time Crystal Ball Run to finally wrap up our look at the best head coaching jobs in college football. We’ve already broken down the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII and SEC, meaning it’s time to shift our focus to left coast, and the Pac-12.

Truthfully, of every conference, the Pac-12 might’ve been the most difficult to rank. Most everyone in the conference has access to the same recruits, in the same areas (unlike the SEC or Big XII, where each school recruits largely in their own state), and the one thing that once truly separated these schools- cold hard cash- is no longer an issue. With the Pac-12’s new TV deal, virtually every school in the conference is in the black financially or at least not nearly as far in the red as they once were.

Therefore, this list was more difficult than most. It truly is “beauty in the eye of the beholder.”

So here goes. As always, your opinions and disagreements are welcome in the comments section below.

Tough to believe, but we're going on nearly 20 years since college football has seen a program capture back-to-back, outright national championships. Nick Saban will be working on adding that notch to his size 32 belt in the fall following Alabama's 2011 title.

What is the biggest obstacle facing the Crimson Tide in their quest to repeat as national champs?

Tom Perry: The pressure. The expectations. The talent in the SEC.

There are many reasons why Alabama won't win it again, but one of them is not Nick Saban. He will be focused and he will do his best to get his team ready, but the distractions are just too much.

When Steve Patterson was hired as Arizona State Vice President for University Athletics and Athletics Director a few weeks back, he pulled no punches in his opening press conference, describing not only where his program was, but where he saw it going.

Patterson told reporters that day:

"I don't believe that we can't compete. I am committed to making Arizona State University consistently a nationally elite athletics program that just takes names and wins championships.”

My initial response?

Hahahahahahahaahaha!!!!!

Oh wait, he was serious?

When I talk about Historically Black Colleges and Universities I usually am talking about their great football, their passionate fan bases, and halftime shows that can’t be matched by any other venue or event in the country. Sadly though for the last two years these great universities have seen more tarnish than fame.

Last year the SWAC got rocked when it was released that Jackson State and Southern were banned from post season play due to low APR scores. While that was strictly academically, related it still tarnished the conference. Jackson State was a dominant team in the SWAC last year and while they wouldn’t have made the Conference Championship game if eligible, it still had to be disheartening to send great players like senior QB Casey Therriault out with no shot at the conference title.

Now today Howard has announced that they have suspended all athletic activity while the school investigates a potential athletics wide textbook voucher issue. Per a Howard athlete, the school has been allowing any unused voucher money to be spent on anything the athletes want, which of course would be a rather large NCAA violation. The University has reportedly demanded that any unspent money be repaid and until it is repaid those student athletes will not be allowed to register for classes.'

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If the "college football leadership council" leaked the document on options for postseason reform published today by USA TODAY Sports as some public demonstration of their infinite genius, consider it a massive miscalculation.

The document outlines the broad strokes of what appear to be the four main avenues conference commissioners are mulling for the sport after the latest BCS deal draws to a close in 2013. Three are pretty blase: keep the current system, but eliminate limits on conference invitations and automatic-qualifying status; a "plus-one" in which the two title game participants are picked after the bowls; and a four-team playoff with seeded semifinals and a championship game.

But, of course, there's a fourth - infuriating - option aimed at preserving the precious sanctity of the Rose Bowl, which the Pac-12 and Big Ten continue to cling to like old farts covet an early-bird special coupon. Under this scenario, the championship would be determined by... Hell, I'll let Steve Weiberg of USA TODAY explain it:

The Texas Longhorns got off to an early start this spring and wrapped up practices over the weekend with the annual Orange-White Game. We checked in with 'Horn über-guru Westcott Ebbers of Burnt Orange Nation for his take on spring drills and where things stand for UT a year after the program's extreme makeover.

1. The big story last year at this time in Austin was how the team would adjust to all the turnover on the coaching staff. Does it feel like the coordinators, Bryan Harsin and Manny Diaz, have moved beyond the "training wheels" phase in terms of installing the playbook?

There's no question that the coaches have moved past the initial installation phase. Now, that wasn't readily apparent during the Orange-White game on Sunday, as both sides were predictably conservative, with the defense opting for a base 4-3 look the entire scrimmage, while the offense only ran plays from last season.

When the fall comes along, I'm not expecting a ton of wrinkles from Bryan Harsin, although there certainly will be some new packages to take advantage of new or developing players, specifically some efforts to get speedster DJ Monroe the ball in different ways by using him more as a receiver. However, the real difference in his second year should be the execution level -- better decisions from sophomore quarterback David Ash, who will be the starter barring a major upset, better blocking from the wide receivers, and a more experienced and cohesive offensive line.

Crystal Ball Run’s jaunt through the conference coaching ranks continues again today and yes, I get to get into the mix with the ACC. The league does not have an Ohio State or an Alabama, and most certainly no Texas type job, but there are some right fine jobs in the conference.

As is the standard disclaimer with these articles this week; we’re not ranking the coaches, people. Before you get your panties in a bunch about how bad Dabo is I implore you to read better and calm down. This is the jobs on their own merits. Money, recruiting, dedication to the cause and the like are the factors here. Not the coaching acumen of Paul Johnson and his steadfast commitment to doing things in a way that stopped working when Nebraska got mollywopped by Miami in the Rose Bowl.

Here are the preludes to the ACC: Big Ten, Big East, Big XII, SEC

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Highlights from Nigeria Trip 2010 from Matt Barkley on Vimeo.

At times as college football fans, we all (myself included) spend way too much time dwelling on the negative, and not nearly enough on the positive. Between the NCAA investigations, conference realignment, smarmy agents, smarmy athletic directors and smarmy TV executives, it’s enough to literally make you sick to your stomach if you think about it too hard.

Fortunately, for all the bad, we do occasionally come across a story which helps us realize why we love this game so much, and why for all the bad we keep coming back to it.

Today brings us one of those stories, courtesy of the kids over at USC. Lane Kiffin’s boys are wrapping up spring ball a week from Saturday, and will soon be transitioning into the off-season, where they’ll spend their time battling heavy expectations as 2012 BCS title favorites.

Well, that’s how they’ll spend part of their season anyway. That’s hardly all that some of their players will be doing however.

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As we often mention here at Crystal Ball Run, generally we like to take a look at the lighter side of college football. We as a staff which loves everything there is to love about the sport; the tailgates on Saturday’s, the coaches on the sidelines, and yes, USC’s song girls. The key thing is though that we do in fact love the sport; we’re not hard-hitting investigative journalists, but fans just like you and your buddies. Therefore, whenever we can have fun with something, we do. Because really, if you can’t have fun talking college football, what can you have fun doing?

There are times where we need to buckle down and get serious though, and in the case of Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino’s recent accident, we have reached one of those times.

By now, you probably know the particulars, and know that on Monday morning it was reported that the head football coach at Arkansas was rushed to the hospital after getting into a pretty serious motorcycle accident. Details were limited from there, but as was later reported, the coach was ok, but definitely a little banged up.

Well, for the first time this afternoon Petrino met with the media, and Petrino shared details. And as you can see from the picture above, they weren’t totally pretty.

We continue to take a look at the head coaching positions in each of the major conferences. This year the Big Ten will welcome a few new names to the party, with Urban Meyer joining Ohio State, Penn State going with Bill O'Brien, and Illinois hiring Tim Beckman. Each will walk in to a different situation with different facilities, support, and expectations. Which one has the best gig?

Remember, we are not necessarily grading the individual coaches. Nobody would make the argument that Penn State's Bill O'Brien should be ranked higher than Wisconsin's Brett Bielema, but you could make an easy case for suggesting the Penn State head coaching position is more lucrative than the same title in Madison. Before we continue, be sure to get caught up on what we have to say about the coaching positions in some of the other conferences...

Big East | Big 12 | SEC

1. Ohio State

NCAA sanctions aside, the Ohio State job is still pretty darn good. In fact, it is the best coaching position in the Big Ten. No athletic department in the Big Ten generates more revenue than Ohio State, and no Big Ten member spends more to support their athletics program as well. Sure, the administration may be a bit kooky, but there is no questioning the level of support that will be thrown behind the head coach of the Buckeyes.

Ohio State is also the crown jewel program in the state of Ohio, which is flooded with FBS schools from the MAC as well as Cincinnati in the Big East. Recruits go out of their way to go to Ohio State, which certainly helps with the pressure level on the head coach. Of course, with those high expectations come high standards. Wins are not only expected, but demanded. The position is only for those strong enough to handle the level of competitiveness that comes with being at Ohio State.

Woody Hayes had it. So did Jim Tressel and so will Urban Meyer.

So what is there not to like about coaching the Buckeyes?