Everyone loves to debate a good hypothetical.

Earlier this week a fellow SDS staffer and I got into a heated debate about a hypothetical involving Jeff Driskel, Bo Wallace and the Ole Miss Rebels. The debate waged back and forth like an intense fifth set at Wimbledon, before eventually both parties had to begrudgingly agree to disagree.

Nevertheless, I wanted to share it with you, the readers, and present the key points from both sides of the argument. I encourage you all to comment below and share your opinion on this debate, because this argument caused a greater stir in our office than any other discussion topic so far this season.

How many games would Ole Miss win with Jeff Driskel as its quarterback?

Driskel has officially been benched at Florida, ending, for now, his tenure as the Gators starting quarterback.

He’s taken on much of the blame for Florida’s inept offense this season, and for good reason. Driskel is completing just 53 percent of his passes, still hasn’t reached the 1,000-yard mark through six starts and has thrown just six touchdowns compared to 10 interceptions this season. Those are some rather woeful numbers, and as a result Florida ranks 11th in the SEC in total offense.

Meanwhile, in Oxford, Bo Wallace has had his ups and downs as the Rebels starting quarterback, throwing five of his six interceptions on the season in just two of his seven starts. Ole Miss has yet to lose a game in 2014, but it’s played noticeably worse in those two turnover-heavy games than in its other five victories.

Which is why I feel Ole Miss would finish as poorly as 7-5 if Driskel was its starting quarterback for the full season.

Sure, Wallace has had his fair share turnover problems throughout his career, but this season he’s only had two games with multiple turnovers — a Week 1 win over Boise State and a Week 5 win over Memphis. And although the Rebels are far superior to both of those opponents, they led Boise just 7-6 and led Memphis just 7-3 through three quarters.

There’s an obvious correlation between Wallace’s turnovers and Ole Miss’ lack of success, and even the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense had trouble holding onto leads when Wallace wasn’t protecting the football.

Imagine if Driskel was starting for Ole Miss — the same Driskel who has thrown at least one pick in five straight games, who’s thrown multiple picks in four straight games and who hasn’t thrown for more than 183 yards in a game since Sept. 13.

Do you really think the Rebels would be 7-0 with those numbers at quarterback? If Wallace’s turnovers nearly cost Ole Miss against a team like Memphis, do you really think a turnover-prone Driskel-led offense could have beaten Alabama or Texas A&M? Do you think that same offense would stand a chance in Death Valley this weekend or against No. 1 Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl later this year?

The answer, in this writer’s opinion, is no.

Wallace is a glorified game-manager who’s accuracy (65.6 completion percentage this year) and maturity have allowed the Rebels’ skill players to make big plays against talented defenses. Driskel is as inaccurate and turnover-prone as any quarterback in the SEC, and he hasn’t allowed Florida’s skill players to make the same plays the Rebels’ skill guys have.

And if you think the Ole Miss skill players are better than Florida’s, you’re wrong. The Gators have superstar wideouts in Quinton Dunbar, Demarcus Robinson, Andre Debose, Clay Burton, Tevin Westbrook, the list goes on and on. Those players don’t need a superstar throwing them the ball to reach their potential, just a poised, accurate game-manager. Driskel has been none of those things this season.

It should also be noted that Florida has twice the rushing attack Ole Miss does, allowing the Gators’ offense to remain balanced while Wallace almost single-handedly carries the Rebels’ offense. Do you think Driskel could carry an offense by himself without a stout rushing attack taking some of the pressure off him? Well, considering his lack of success in a Florida offense with two talented backs (Matt Jones and Kelvin Taylor), it’s hard to believe he’d be more successful with less help from the run.

Yes, Ole Miss is a defense-first team, and yes, that defense may be the best in America. But in order for the defense to carry the team, the quarterback must stay out of the way. Driskel just can’t do that, and he can’t help but make critical errors in bunches. If he were leading the Rebels, they’d have a hard time beating any other SEC West teams. That’s not to say Ole Miss wouldn’t win an SEC game with Driskel as its starter, but it is to say the Rebs would likely finish 3-5 in the conference with Driskel leading the team in favor of Wallace.

The colleague I was debating obviously disagrees with that stance, and his side of the argument deserves it’s day in court, too.

He asserted Driskel was able to succeed as a game-manager on Florida’s 11-2 team in 2012 — a team carried by it’s defense — and thus could do it again with this year’s Ole Miss team. And to be fair, he’s not wrong. That 2012 Florida team was a Jordan Reed fumble against Georgia away from an undefeated regular season, and it allowed more than 20 points just once in 12 regular season games.

Driskel did a great job of staying out of the way that season, completing 63.7 percent of his throws. He only threw for 1,646 yards, but he limited himself to just five interceptions while tailback Mike Gillislee carries the offense with more than 1,100 yards on the ground and 10 touchdowns.

As Driskel aged and matured at Florida, he was asked to take on more responsibility in the offense, which led to the beginning of his failures. Driskel isn’t capable of anything more than simply staying out of the way, but, again, that’s all this year’s Ole Miss squad would need him to do. So there is an argument to be made that he could regress back to his days as a game-manager if leading the Rebels this season.

He’s also had to contend with an ever-revolving cast of offensive coordinators and increasing pressure as many in the media have linked his play with coach Will Muschamp’s job status.

However, the biggest difference between this year’s Ole Miss team and that year’s Florida squad is the run game. Gillislee was the face of the Florida offense in 2012, which allowed Driskel to get out of the way and let the skill players go to work.

Ole Miss, meanwhile, is truly putrid in the run game. The Rebels’ top three tailbacks combined might not hit Gillislee’s 1,100 yard mark, and without balance on offense there’d be nowhere for Driskel to hide.

Driskel would have a much better defense behind him if he played for this year’s Ole Miss team, and if Driskel spent the year with the Rebels instead of the Gators his numbers might not be as bad. The Ole Miss defense sets Wallace up with plenty of short fields thanks to a slew of turnovers and a dominant advantage in field position battles, and Wallace has taken advantage. Who’s to say Driskel couldn’t do the same like he did with Florida’s 2012 defense?

Also, export Bo Wallace to Florida and it could be argued he’d perform more like Driskel, his propensity to turn the ball over bubbling out due to the pressure, the lack of a dominant defense and a culture of ineptitude. Some analysts have the opinion that Wallace is better than Driskel, but that the gap isn’t as large as you’d imagine.

Ultimately, there are logical points to be made for both sides, but the eye test tells me Driskel’s issues are now deeply rooted into his football DNA, making them impossible to overcome. The lack of a run game would leave Driskel exposed, and even with short fields he’d still have the opportunity to throw picks when the Rebels threaten to score.

This is nothing personal toward Driskel. (I’ve never met him but he seems like a nice enough guy.) However, I believe Driskel is bad enough to drop Ole Miss from national title contender to a middle-of-the-pack 7-5 team, and that’s saying a lot.