BenMaller.com - Ben's Takes

Big Ben on FoxSports.com

By Ben Maller

This week Ben Maller explains that the NFL needs a dominate team. Ben explains why the NFL is a mess right now. Also Ben gives you his hot sports opinions about this weekend's big NFL & college football games.

Get the knowledge you need and the hot sports opinions you can't live without.

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Thursday, October 03, 2002

Big Ben Maller's Five Star Thursday Pick

Clemson (3-1) at (11) Florida State (4-1)

The Line: Florida State -14

Site: Doak Campbell Stadium. -- Tallahassee, Florida.

Insider Notes: Billed as Bowden Bowl IV, Bobby Bowden and his Seminoles will once again try to knock off son Tommy Bowden and his Tigers. Bobby Bowden has claimed victory over Tommy in each of the three previous tilts between father and son, including last season's 41-27 win in Death Valley.

Clemson is averaging 338.0 yards of total offense per contest, getting 138.3 yards on the ground and 199.8 through the air. QB Willie Simmons has gotten off to a fast start, completing almost 57 percent of his passes, for 771 yards and four TDs.

The Seminoles are yielding 20.6 points per game and while doing a nice job against the run (103.4 ypg), the unit has given up huge yardage through the air (245.2 ypg).

Big Ben's Breakdown: We will find out tonight if Florida State's stunning loss to Louisville last week was an aberration or a preview of things to come. Clemson almost beat Georgia losing on a late field goal, before beating up on Louisiana Tech, Georgia Tech and Ball State.

Under Bobby Bowden, the last time Florida State lost at home the week after a loss was in 1989. I'm taking that stat and the fact that the Seminoles should get pressure on Simmons to say that Florida State is the right side of this game.

Ben Maller's Pick Florida State -14

BenMaller.com's Final Score: Florida State 38, Clemson 23 permalink

Wednesday, October 02, 2002

Ben Maller's Baseball Predictions

By Ben Maller

If you want to know what I thinks will happen in the baseball playoffs go to FoxSports.com. Along with other Fox Sports personalities from "Fox Sports Radio" the "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" and the FOX fall entertainment lineup, I give you my best guess at what's going to happen in the post season.

Click here for a direct link: FoxSports.com

The 2002 Anaheim Angels picked up where the 1986 California Angels left off in game one in the Bronx. The Halos have about as much chance of beating the Yankees in the playoffs as I do of being the next owner of the Montreal Expos. permalink

Monday, September 30, 2002

Monday Morning Quarterback

By Ben Maller

It sure looks like teams have figured out how to attack the New England Patriots. The Chiefs used Priest Holmes running right up the gut last weekend and almost beat the Pats. LaDanian Tomlinson and the Chargers did the same thing Sunday and they beat the World Champs. Tomlinson had 217 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Paul Hackett should be fired as offensive coordinator of the New York Jets. The Jets (1-3) have been outscored 102-13 in three straight losses, their worst three-game stretch since 1962, when they were known as the Titans.

Curtis Martin the Jets RB who has rushed for at least 1,100 yards in each of his seven seasons, has 98 yards in four games. That's reason enough to fire Hackett.

During training camp Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin said this years team had less talent the expansion version of a few years ago. Coughlin could not have been more wrong. Fred Taylor is a top five running back and he's healthy now. When you add Taylor to QB Mark Brunell and WR Jimmy Smith the Jags have more firepower then 90% of the NFL.

Drew Bledsoe has the Buffalo Bills believing they can beat anyone. Bledsoe passed for 328 yards and four touchdowns helping the Bills get back to 2-2 on the year with a 33-to-27 overtime win against the Bears. Buffalo has already played three overtime games this season, winning two. No team had ever gone to an extra period three times in its first four games.

Buffalo might want go Travis Henry some glove to hold on to the ball. Henry has fumbled in each of the Bills first four games.

The Rams, the first team in NFL history to score 500 points in three straight seasons, are averaging 15 points after four games. St. Louis is a mess they let go character guys like London Fletcher in the offseason and it appears they don't have any leaders left on that club. Could the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks finish ahead of the greatest show on turf?

It looked like the Minnesota Vikings had something else on their minds in the first half against Seattle last night. Maybe they were worried Randy Moss would see a traffic cop in Seattle on the sidelines and go nuts. Moss wasn't a factor, with six receptions for 50 yards, and he dropped four passes in the end zone. The Vikings' 0-4 start is their worst since Bud Grant's first season in 1967.

Saints WR Donte' Stallworth looks like a real superstar in the making. Stallworth became the first rookie to catch TD passes in his first four games since Washington's Charlie Brown caught TD passes in his first five games in 1982.

Every week Jerry Rice proves the 49ers decision to release him a couple years back stupider and stupider. Rice had 144 yards receiving against the Titans to lead the Raiders.

Dick Vermeil was the man who built the current group of St. Louis Rams. Vermeil is also the man who has turned the Kansas City Chiefs into the NFL's best offensive team. Its not surprising that the Rams forced out the wrong guy in Vermeil and kept the idiot Mike Martz.

Quote of the Week ``We played like kids out there. We didn't play like an NFL football team.'' - Jets running back Curtis Martin after a 28-3 loss sank the team to 1-3.

The Lions won for just the third time in 20 games under coach Marty Mornhinweg. It should be pointed out that Mornhinweg got a vote of confidence this week from ownership.

The St. Louis Rams are on the clock for the 2003 NFL draft.

Friday night I took a look at the Saints schedule and was amazed to see how easy it looked. New Orleans appeared to have a chance to win 13 or even 14 games. Then they go out and lay an egg against a bad Lions team and I don't know what to think.

If ESPN could broadcast everygame that Shaun Alexander played he would be the greatest running back in history. Alexander set an NFL record with five first-half touchdowns in the rout of the Vikings.

Did you know? The last player with five TDs in one game was Jacksonville's James Stewart in 1997.

I'm sure alot of gamblers are not real happy with the Philadelphia Eagles. A 19 point home favorite the Eagles won by 18 and allowed the expansion Houston Texans and David Carr a pair of touchdowns. Carr was sacked another seven times, bringing his season total to 26.

The Cincinnati Bengals look like a team that has quit on their coach Dick LeBeau. The Bengals lost 35-7 to the Bucs on Sunday. Cincinnati has been outscored 119-23 during their 0-4 start.

College Football

The Hawkeye State ruled the college football world. This is the first time in the history of the sport that Iowa and Iowa State made a mark on the national scene on the same day. Seneca Wallace and Iowa State took apart Nebraska in Ames. I was most impressed with the Cyclones offensive and defensive line play. Their was no doubt who the better team was as Iowa State beatup a pathetic Husker squad. It was the Cyclones first win in the last 31 games against ranked opponents.

Eric Crouch could be the offensive coordinator at Nebraska next season. According to rumors in the cornhusker state their could be a major shakeup on Frank Solich's staff. I have never seen a Nebraska defense as bad as this 2002 unit. Husker defensive coordinator Craig Bohl has no chance of coaching in Lincoln next year. Its impossible to come from behind with the option offense when you are down by 14 points all the time.

Many people think that Iowa is a program on the rise under coach Kirk Ferentz. From everything I was told the Hawkeyes were about a year away from making a run at the Big 10 title. They might be ready early after beating Penn State in Happy Valley on Saturday. Brad Banks looked great at QB and Fred Russell is one of the most underrated running backs in the country.

I Had a chance to watch USC tear apart Oregon State. The most impressive thing about the game and win for me was the style of play the Trojans put on the field. A week after being pushed around by Kansas State the men of troy were the more physical team. Coach Pete Carroll is running an NFL style defense. I haven't seen anyone in the Pac-10 with as good a defense as Southern Cal. Troy Polamalu gets all the media attention but Shaun Cody is a stud of the defensive line.

Mike Williams the 6'5" freshman WR for SC is going to be the next great Trojan receiver. He had two TD's against the Beavers and is only going to get better and better with everyplay.

Notre Dame has a chance to be undefeated when they play SC at the Coliseum to end the year on November 30th. Having seen both teams play I think the Trojans will win that game by 10 points.

Florida won the wildest game of the weekend against Kentucky. The Gators had two punts blocked and dropped the snap on another, lost a fumble that turned into a KU touchdown and allowed the Wildcats' Derek Abney to return both a kickoff 100 yards and a punt 49 yards for TDs. This is not a good sign for Florida when they have to play Florida State LSU & Auburn coming up.

Rutgers leading Tennessee 14-7 in Rocky Top at the half is one of the biggest upsets of the year in my opinion. For a team as outmaned as the Scarlet Knights to lead a top 10 team in their house for half a game was amazing. The Vols had to much talent and mainly Kelley Washington in the 2nd half.

Starting next year, a little known law called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act could prevent schools from giving out any information about a college athletes injury. If this happens the media, the fans and gamblers will raise hell.

Random Stuff

It was fun to see the Dodgers season go down to the last weekend. The bottom line though is that they still have a lot of work to do. The 2002 Dodgers failed because they did not have enough gas to make the playoffs. Dan Evans trades at the deadlines backfired again. Paul Shuey was a waist from Cleveland and Tyler Houston did nothing coming over from Milwaukee.

Expect Brian Jordan to ask the Dodgers to trade him. Jordan didn't like living on the West coast while his family is on the East Coast in Atlanta. The Orioles could be interested in Jordan.

The Dodgers must sign a starting pitcher an outfielder and a second baseman. If Jordan does leave they have to find an everyday leftfielder. As for secondbase Jeff Kent would look great in Dodger Blue. Kent is in his mid 30's though so the Dodgers better be careful not to sign him to more then a three-year deal.

Longtime Clippers PA man Dennis Packer one of the best in the business is not going to be back this season. Sources close to BenMaller.com tell me that Packer has been given the boot because the team wants a "different sound." This should mean what 2 or 3 more wins?

I'm looking forward to Lakers & Clippers media day today. This is the day when everyone says all the right things. The cliche's will be flying from Staples and El Segundo.

Lets hope the Lakers get off to a good start this year. Paul Sunderland will be blamed if they suck in November and not Shaq's bum toe.

I'm looking forward to hearing Vin Scully, Ross Porter and Rick Monday on KFWB 980am next season. Lets count down the days till Vero Beach.

Has the curse of the Benbino been broken? On my radio show this weekend I gave out to best bets. The Kentucky Wildcats in college +19 at Florida and the Cleveland Browns +6 at Pittsburgh in the NFL.

I'm very excited that my weekend show on Fox Sports Radio is now heard in the great city of Chicago. Its going to be alot of fun to talk with the great sports fans of the Windy City on "The Score 670 Chicago's Sports Radio." permalink