A game-by-game look at Bo Wallace and his two alter egos, Dr. Bo and Mr. Pick.

Dr. Bo has been looking like he generally has control over Bo Wallace, which is certainly a good thing for Ole Miss fans as the Rebels continue to climb in the rankings. Mr. Pick surely lies somewhere beneath, but he seems to be fading with each game that goes by.

Ole Miss started with the ball, and the first play of the day was executed perfectly by Bo Wallace. He threw a beautiful ball on a corner route and it looked like Dr. Bo was going to be showing up early and often. Then the drive stalled and the Rebels punted. On the second possession, Wallace displayed great arm strength as he got pressure in his face and fired a strike while back peddling. This play turned out to be positive, but Wallace seems to throw going backwards a fair amount. I can’t help but think that is going to get him into some trouble down the road.

The Rebels opened up their third drive inside their own 10-yard line after recovering a fumble. To this point, this drive was the most impressive that Wallace has put together. He showed off every aspect of his game. Getting out of the pocket, throwing on the run, fitting the ball into a hole, arm strength, and finally a deft touch on a long scoring pass. If you could bottle up that drive and have Wallace look like that every time, he would be Dr. Bo and some. A very impressive few plays.

The first quarter came to an end, and Wallace had yet to toss an incompletion. He opened up the second quarter strong again, before showing the first Mr. Pick moment of the game. Wallace ran around in circles, turning his back to the line of scrimmage and ended up losing three yards on the play. He had multiple opportunities to get rid of the ball, but kept it despite having nowhere to go with it. He followed that up with a short pass that was turned into a touchdown by a strong second effort by Vince Sanders.

Finally, with just under 11 minutes left in the second quarter Wallace threw is first incompletion, starting with 14 consecutive completions. Soon after that he threw into a window that was just short of non-existent, with two separate defenders batting the ball down in front of a receiver. It’s these type of throws that even when Wallace is firing on all cylinders, it feels like there is something lurking under the surface.

With a little over 7 minutes left in the half, Wallace fired his third touchdown. He sidestepped some pressure, moving in the pocket and stepped into his throw to the end zone. While the pass wasn’t very pretty at all, he hit his spot, connecting with Vince Sanders again. Wallace’s footwork in this particular play was pretty much perfect. In this situation, he often falls away from pressure, not stepping into his throws, but this was classic Dr. Bo stuff making the score 28-0.

Wallace couldn’t quite get out of the half without showing some Mr. Pick. With no pass rush in his face Wallace threw falling back, off his back foot throwing high and behind his receiver leading to an interception. I don’t know if he knew I was writing this piece and decided to help me out by showing some of his bad side so there was at least a little bit of each to break down. The pass wasn’t too far off target, but it’s those sloppy mechanics that are going to get the beast that is Mr. Pick released.

On back-to-back plays Wallace showed both the mechanics that get him all loose and gun-slinger leading to poor decisions, throwing hurried, from his back foot into coverage, then following that up with stepping into a throw and putting the ball perfectly on the back line of the end zone where only his receiver could get it. On one hand you’ve got to love the confidence he’s got, but frustrating at the same time because he clearly has all the tools to be great all the time.

Once again, Bo Wallace did not have to play the entire game as this one was put away early. He seems to be getting better and better as the weeks go by, which should be scary for every one else. He still exhibits some questionable decisions and his mechanics slip back into some bad tendencies from time to time. There isn’t too much from this game to pick apart as it was decidedly a great game from Bo.

Wallace finished 23 of 28 for 316 yards, 4 TDs, and 1 INT.

The ruling for week 3 against the Ragin’ Cajuns: Dr. Bo.

Ole Miss has a bye week in week 4, so Dr. Bo will have extra time to exorcise Mr. Pick from his body.