710 ESPN's "SMOG" - Steve Mason's Blog

BEANIE WATCH: Wells says he feel great, but Tressell still calls him doubtful for Ohio U on Saturday

Why are we doing a feature called BEANIE WATCH every day at 2pm leading up to the Ohio St./USC game a week from Saturday? Check out this Beanie run in Saturday's Buckeye laugher against Youngstown St..

Chris "Beanie" Wells is good. He's real good. A legit Heisman candidate. Doug Lemerisis from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com joined us Wednesday, and you can hear him give us the very latest info on Beanie "foot thing."

The up-to-date word on Beanie is that he says he is doing great, but that he was walking gingerly on the bum wheel on Wednesday at the Ohio St. training facility. Jim Tressell says its doubtful that Beanie will play this Saturday against Ohio U, but he is definitely keeping his medical status "close to the sweater vest."

Doug tells us that if Wells cannot play against USC or is limited by his foot injury, the Buckeyes will go with a running back by committee including freshman Tim Herron, former Ohio state 100 meter sprinting champ Brandon Sain, a sophomore, and senior TB Maurice Wells (no relation to Beanie). This is a huge drop-off from the much ballyhooed Beanie.

Listen to the Mason & Ireland show every day at 2pm for the latest news on Wells' foot thing in our daily BEANIE WATCH.

CLAY MATTHEWS: All over the field and still not #1 on the depth chart at USC

How deep is the USC defense?

Clay Matthews had 5 solo tackles in all in USC's 52-7 win over Virginia on Saturday. He and Taylor Mays and Kaluka Maiava tied for the team lead with 6 total tackles.

What does a guy need to do to to be #1 on the depth chart. Well, that's why Coach Carroll invented Competition Tuesday. Every job is up for grabs every Tuesday, so Clay is alive for a start against against Ohio St. and any other game this year.

Matthews is the 4th member of his family to play for USC following his uncle Bruce and his dad Clay along with his brother Kyle. The funny thing is that when older brother Kyle heard that Clay was going to be on the show today, he sent us a note saying that his lil' bro should "relax and stop looking at himself in the mirror. When we confronted Clay with this e-mail he laughed it off. Hear the conversation here. It's funny stuff. Also, lots of Ohio St. insight here.

MASON & IRELAND FANTASY DRAFT: Final rosters for the "Toucan Bitter Snouts" (My team) and the "Obama Mamas" (Ireland's team)

We had a great time on Wednesday's Mason & Ireland show on 710 ESPN. We decided to ask our listeners to suggest embarrassing team names for our fantasy football teams. Our Hollywood Football League was Wednesday night at our conference room at the station.I love fantasy football and fantasy baseball. I've been playing for years. Long before it was ever cool. In the Hollywood Football League last year, I finished 5th and Ireland finished at #8.

Kudos to listeners who dubbed my team, the Toucan Bitter Snouts and John's team Obama's Mamas. I think we will both be irritated by those nicknames all year long....staring back at us from the tandings and when we change our lineups and when we try to make a trade. (By the way, it would be impossible to read about 90% of the team names suggested by text and e-mail on the radio.)

Here they are. The rosters for the Toucan Bitter Snouts and Obama's Mamas. Who do you think drafted the best team?

Steve Mason's
TOUCAN BITTER SNOUTS
QB Derek Anderson, Cleveland
QB Jason Campbell, Washington
QB J.T. O'Sullivan, San Francisco
RB Steven Jackson, St. Louis
RB Frank Gore, San Fransisco
RB Chris Johnson, Tennessee
RB Andre Hall, Denver
WR Chad Johnson, Cincinnati
WR Wes Welker, New England
WR Nate Burleson, Seattle
WR Bryant Johnson, San Francisco
K Nate Kaeding, San Diego
Defense Jaguars
Flex Rudi Johnson, Detroit
Flex Drew Bennett, St. Louis
Flex Courtney Taylor, Seattle

John Ireland's
OBAMA'S MAMAS
QB Phil Rivers, San Diego
QB Chad Pennington, Miami
QB Kurt Warner, Arizona
RB Darren McFadden, Oakland
RB Adrian Peterson, Minnesota
RB Chster Taylor, Minnesota
RB Chris Taylor, Houston
WR Marques Colston, New Orleans
WR Jerricho Cotchery, NY Jets
WR Roy Williams, Detroit
WR Bernard Berrian, Minnesota
K Neil Rackers, Arizona
Defense Seahawks
Flex Kenny Watson, Cincinnati
Flex Kevin Boss, New York Giants
Flex Dallas Clark, Indianapolis

THE GURU: I hate seeing Norm Chow run the UCLA offense

I gotta be honest. I wish Norm Chow was the offensive coordinator at USC.

Steve Sarkisian is an excellent offensive coordinator, but Chow has a mystique about him....and it only grew in Monday night's UCLA win over then 18th-ranked Tennessee.

Play-calling made no difference in the Trojans' 52-7 romp at Virginia in the opener, but Sark's play-calling is an ongoing source of debate amongst USC alums and fans. As recently as last November 3 after a lackluster win over Oregon St., the LA Times ran a Steve Sarkisian Poll, questioning Sarkisian.

I love this 2005 quote from Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville.

"Give Norm Chow a month to prepare for you and you are toast."

Sark ain't there yet. JD Booty never delivered like Carson Palmer and Matt Leinert. Then again, Booty did not have the raw skills of those Chow prodigies. Maybe the buttoned-down offensive approach the last couple of years was a product of Booty's lack of size and ineffectiveness throwing the deep ball. With Mark Sanchez, there will be no excuses. USC's new quartberback is a big guy with a big arm and a big attitude. He also has speedsters like Vidal Hazelton, Ronald Johnson and Damiam Williams to throw to. "Put away the station wagon, and let's take this Porche out for a serious ride!"

Norm Chow is a great guy, and he an Neuheisel are an inprecedented offensive braintrust. The guru joined us on Tuesday's Mason & Ireland, and he was his usual humble yet mysterious self. John asks him about whether there is really a conflict between he and Pete Carroll, and he says no. Coach Carroll says the same. I'm just not sure.

BEANIE WATCH: "Doctors don't even have a name for his injury"

What's up with Beanie?

This may be one of the most important questions in Los Angeles over the next 10 days. If you're just tuning into the hype about #3 Ohio St.'s visit to the Coliseum to take on #1 USC a week from Saturday, Chris "Beanie" Wells may be the best running back in America, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate and the key to the Buckeye offense. In the 3rd quarter of a meaningless drubbing of Youngstown St. on Sunday, Beanie got hurt. Here's a different angle of the play I found on YouTube. I think this is just some guy with a camera phone, and I haven't seen this view on ESPN (yet).

Tim May from the Columbus Dispatch joined us on Mason & Ireland on Tuesday with the latest on Beanie. He says that there's not even a name for the injury that Wells is dealing with. It's apparently the bottom of his foot at the base of his right big toe. May calls it "the forefoot." Listen to Mason & Ireland every day on 710 ESPN leading up to the biggest college football game of the season for Beanie Watch.

PROUD POP: Kevin Craft's dad says he was a nervous wreck after those 4 interceptions

Tom Craft joined us on the Mason & Ireland Show Tuesday and he was beaming about his son Kevin's 2nd half performance in UCLA's spectacular upset win over Tennessee at the Rose Bowl. Tom was a quarterback at San Diego St. before going into coaching. He wound up as head coach at Palomar College where he finished by winning 31 of his final 33 games, then returned to his alma mater, first as offensive coordinator and then as head coach. He recruited his quarterback son to San Diego St., but was fired after his son's redshirt freshman year.

If you saw the game, you know that Tom looked mighty squeamish while Kevin struggled through a miserable first half. In the end, I think that one of the reasons the kid was able to turn from Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jecky is the fact that he is a "coaches son." Let's face it. He grew up with a Dad who lived and died every Saturday during his growing up years. In fact, listen to our interview with him, and tell me, "Did your Dad ever study film with you during summer vacation?" Coach told us that he thinks it helps that he and Kevin spent some time over the summer looking at film of Tennessee's Cover 2 Defense.

Thanks Pops. 

RELENTLESSLY POSITIVE: Neuheisel's motto conquers Tennessee

Rick Neuheisel has had a sign posted in the Bruins' locker room through fall camp and leading up to Monday night's matchup with Tennessee. It says, "Relentlessly Positive."

"Dark night of the soul," is an expression from an old-time Catholic Saint (I don't know which one). It refers to a person's all-time low point. I don't know if the first half of the Tennessee game was Kevin Craft's "dark night of the soul," but it had to be close.

I don't play golf. One of the reasons is that when I tried to pick the game up, my game would go to hell every time I hit a bad shot. I have never been good at "turning things around." Bad golf shot = bad round. Bad morning = bad day. Bad first hour of the show = bad last 2 hours of the show. If I was a quarterback, and I threw 4 picks in the first half of a game, I'd probably break the record for most interceptions thrown in a game. (I can't seem to find that record anywhere, but Matt Stevens threw 5 for UCLA against Oklahoma, and they still let him work as an analyst on the Bruin radio broadcasts.)

The junior transfer Craft had a horrible first half with 7 completions in 18 attempts for 66 yards with 4 picks. And, they were, for the most part, bad interceptions. In the second half, he turned into a different player. Craft went from Hyde to Jeckyl going 18 for 25 for 193 yards and a TD pass with no more INTs.

Craft was 6 for 6 on a go-ahead drive in the 4th quarter that culminated with a 3-yard run from Raymond Carter. Then after Tennessee took the lead back, Craft engineered another excellent drive as he hit Ryan Moya on a 3 yard TD pass to move ahead 24-21. The Vols tied the game on a 47-yard field goal forcing overtime, but after UCLA settled for a field goal on its first OT possession, Daniel Lincoln missed a chippy for the Vols giving the Bruins a 27-24 OT win.

The defense was actually damn good. Brigham Harwell, Reggie Carter and Brian Price all looked great, and nobody'll ever outscheme DeWayne Walker. Congrats to Norm Chow and of course Rick Neuheisel. But this was Kevin Craft's night. After hitting rock bottom he silenced Rocky Top with a Relentlessly Positive 2nd half performance.

GOOD RIDDANCE: Dodgers will say goodbye to Jeff Kent for good

When the Dodgers acquired Manny Ramirez at the trade deadline, Jeff Kent had a .254 batting average with 44 RBIs. He turned 40 in March, and you’d think he would want to wrap up his career at the Ravine with some productivity and some class.

This is a surly guy who has never won “Mr. Congeniality” at any of his big league stops. That’s OK. No athlete is required to be media-friendly, but Kent has regularly clashed with teammates. There was his famous running feud with Barry Bonds in San Francisco (yeah, look at the picture and see the love), and he as the flashpoint for the “old guys vs. young guys” battle in last year’s Dodgers clubhouse.

Kent’s job in this lineup for the last 4 years has been to drive in runs. He drove in 105 in 2005, then managed only 68 in ’06 and 79 in ’07. You’d think after just 44 RBIs through July, he would’ve been excited to see the arrival of Manny. His production certainly picked up as he was 23-39 for a .589 with 11 RBIs in the first 15 games with Ramirez in the lineup.

Then came “The Article.” In TJ Simers’ August 17 column in the LA Times, Kent announced that Vin Scully “talks too much.” Vinny had the “gall” to point out that Jeff Kent sure was hitting a lot better with Manny in the lineup. Instead of being excited about the arrival of a big stick, making everybody in the lineup better, Jeff decided to lash out.

My theory is that Kent is jealous of Manny Ramirez. He was thinking, “Hey, I’ve been here all year, and now Vin Scully is saying my hot streak is because of Manny.” And, if there’s one think Jeff Kent hates, it’s anybody in the media. I think it stems from his famous 2002 car wash, where Kent violated his contract by breaking his wrist while riding a motorcycle and then lied about it, claiming to have suffered a terrible car washing accident. The sports media flogged him relentlessly for this flagrant fabrication, and he never forgot it.

What did Jeff Kent do in the 11 games after he attacked Los Angeles baseball treasure Vin Scully? He was 12-45 with 2 RBIs, then he tore up his knee Friday night at Arizona. He’s having season-ending knee surgery tomorrow. Karma maybe? Regardless, he has played his last game with the Dodgers. He’s a grumbling malcontent who’s bad for team chemistry. LA can buy him out for $500,000, and I’d be surprised if the check isn’t already written.

PLAY IT SAFE: The winning game plan for UCLA is to play conservatively

I know it's not sexy or cool or exciting. It seems counter-intuitive. Exactly the wrong thing to do. But, I think it is probably UCLA's best chance tonight.

The Bruins' 5 starting offensive linemen have 8 starts between them. UCLA's anointed quarterback, Kevin Craft, has 4 Division 1 starts at San Diego St. back in 2006. (That's Craft in the picture, and, No, those are not 2 of his offensive linemen.) Last year, Tennessee gave up more points than any Volunteer team in history, and they onlt return 6 starters. Plus, Phil Fulmer is breaking in a new quarterback Jonathan Crompton, who has only started 2 games (in 2006) and installing a new offensive system with offensive coordinator Dave Clausen.

Norm Chow needs to play picth-and-catch with Craft. Senior wide receiver Brandon Breazell (51 catches, 4 Tds), sophomore wide receiver Dominiq Johnson (25 catches, 4 TDs) and junior wide receiver Terrence Austin (17 catches, 248 yards) can all run after the catch. Austin is always a threat to take one to the house on a punt return (or at least get you field position). And, Kahlil Bell is capable of chewing up yardage and clock if he gets into a groove, like when he went for almost 200 against Stanford last year.

A big mistake, especially early, will kill the Bruins. On offense, Craft needs to know where sophomore strong safety Eric Berry is at all times. He picked off 5 passes a year ago for the Vols as a true freshman, and he averaged 44 yards per return.

On defense, the top 3 tacklers from a year ago are gone. Junior CB Al Verner will captain the secondary. He had 4 picks and 53 solo tackles a year ago. Junior linebacker Reggie Carter moves to the middle and will be the key to stopping the run, and sophomore DT Brian Price made progress in his freshman year and could be a key to the pass rush. The good news is the Crompton can be rattled, and he is still learning Clausen's new system dubbed "The Clawfense," which apparently has a lot of bells and whistles.

Tennessee is solid and has a chance to be great, but they are not unbeatable. If UCLA keeps it simple - run the football, dump it to wide receivers with short and mid-range passes, avoid a big mistake and find a way to pressure Crompton, they can hang around. And, you never know....