Chuck Long breaks down the Big Ten football season

Chuck Long has every phase of football covered. He got his start at Wheaton North High School, was a star quarterback at the University of Iowa, spent six years in the NFL and logged 16 seasons as a college coach.

These days, Long is an analyst for the Big Ten Network and CEO of the Iowa Sports Foundation. We asked for his insight on the upcoming Big Ten football season:

Q: So much of the Big Ten attention has been focused on the return of Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and defending national champ Ohio State being ranked No. 1 in preseason. What's another good story?

A: Because of those two factors — the Jim Harbaugh phenomenon and Ohio State preseason No. 1 — that's put Michigan State in a very good position as an under-the-radar team. They're exactly where coach Mark D'Antonio wants them to be, with Michigan and Ohio State getting all the publicity right now. He's always created an 'us against the world' mentality and I think they're an excellent football team that's somehow gotten under the radar.

Q: You were quarterbacks coach for Oklahoma's 2000 national championship team, so you know how tough it is to repeat. What challenges will Ohio State face starting this season on top?

A: Here's what can happen to a team like Ohio State: You have to guard against playing not to lose. Playing to win is much different from playing not to lose. You're not fighting to gain the No. 1 spot throughout the season like they were last year. Now they're fighting to hang onto it. Those are two different kinds of mentalities.

At Oklahoma in 2000 when we won the national championship, we were playing to win. We were under the radar, kept plugging away and we surprised a bunch of teams, just like Ohio State last year. Then in 2001, we were playing not to lose and we got upset at the end of the year by Oklahoma State. We had a difficult time getting our kids to realize they had to play to win again in 2001. They ended up trying to hold onto what we had the year before. Urban Meyer's going to have to find the right mentality for the Buckeyes this fall.

Q: You played against Jim Harbaugh in maybe the Big Ten's biggest game of the 1980s, Iowa vs. Michigan in '85. What are your impressions of him?

A: I think he's an excellent football coach. He has a great pedigree in coaching. His dad is a longtime college coach. He brings a certain edge to the game not a lot of people have and I think a lot of that is from his coaching experience and his background growing up around college football. I think he's taken a lot from Bo Schembechler and incorporated his own style and he's been successful on every level.

Q: What do you think of Northwestern starting another former Wheaton North quarterback, Clayton Thorson?

A: I know he was a good high school football player. I'm really excited that he's from my alma mater. You'd like to think Wheaton North is THE quarterback school and Clayton has brought that back. I really wasn't surprised he was name the starter. I think he gives them the best chance to win through athletic ability and arm talent alone. But what I've seen and read on him, seen in interviews, he's an outstanding young man. I wish him all the best.

Q: What can we expect from Illinois after it fired coach Tim Beckman a week before the season opener?

A: It's a tough situation. The only thing I would say is Bill Cubit, who took over, has good head coaching experience (at Western Michigan). He'll be able to draw from that. I think highly of Bill Cubit. I think he's a very good offensive mind and one of the better coordinators in the country. Now he has the head coaching hat, but he has the experience and that will help Illinois try to have a seamless transition.

There's going to be some challenges there. The biggest challenge is recruiting. Recruits want to know who their head coach is. Right now, that puts everybody on hold for Illinois.

Q: What about Iowa, your former school?

A: The Hawkeyes did not end the season well, so they don't have momentum at all going into this year. On top of that, they have a new quarterback, new tackles. It's a fairly young team. They have essentially one playmaker on the outside in (receiver) Tevaun Smith, but they don't have many others after that. Their running back position has not been healthy, although I think they have two good running backs in Jordan Canzeri and LeShun Daniels. So there are so many questions marks and unknowns.

With no momentum from last year, it makes it a very difficult challenge for Iowa. However, the West is wide open, so you never know.

Q: If you had to pick a favorite in the Big Ten West, who would it be?

A: I think the West favorite is Minnesota. They have 17 starters back, they have a good kicking game. They have a very stout, talented defense. They have to get a passing game going. But they're in a good spot, good momentum from last year. You have a new head coach at Nebraska, a new head coach at Wisconsin, you've got a fired head coach at Illinois, some unknowns at Northwestern. Against the rest of the West, they stack up pretty well. They also have coaching continuity, which I think makes a huge difference. I think Minnesota is in a good position to win the West.

Q: Is the Big Ten East ready to challenge the SEC West as college football's best division?

A: Yeah. In the Big Ten East, you have two top-five teams in Ohio State and Michigan State. The SEC West has been regarded as the premier division in all of college football. I think the Big Ten East rivals that right now.

The Big Ten is at a high time going into this year. It's strong, as popular as it ever has been, and that's due to that Big Ten East. That's a brutal side over there. Ohio State and Michigan State are at the top right now. Penn State won't be down for long — that's a rising power.