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Wallace saves best game for biggest stage in win over Alabama
By Ethan Levine
Published:
It’s funny what an athlete is capable of with his back against the wall, isn’t it?
Bo Wallace entered last week’s game against then-No. 1 Alabama having committed more turnovers than 10 entire SEC teams. As the most criticized player in the conference, he seemed a lock to commit a few more turnovers against the Crimson Tide, and was a prime suspect to be the “goat” in a potential Rebels loss Saturday.
Instead, Wallace walked away a hero, throwing for three touchdowns without a single turnover in a 23-17 win that vaulted Ole Miss into the top 5 in this week’s Associated Press Poll.
In the biggest game of his career, Wallace put forth his best performance in three years as Ole Miss’ starting quarterback, leading the Rebels to perhaps their greatest win in program history.
“Tonight, Bo led his team to defeat the No. 1 team in the country. He deserves credit for being a big part of that,” head coach Hugh Freeze said after the win on Saturday. And he’s right — Wallace wasn’t just a part of the win. He led Ole Miss to victory.
With Ole Miss trailing 17-10 heading to the fourth quarter, it became apparent that Wallace would decide whether the Rebels won or lost the game. To that point, he had succeeded in avoiding game-breaking mistakes, but had not come up with any memorable moments either. That is, until he found senior wideout Vince Sanders on a 34-yard post route that went for a touchdown to tie the score with 5:29 left to play.
Wallace, who has a tendency to grow impatient in the pocket and force throws at the wrong time, sat patiently and allowed the Rebels’ route combination on the play to develop. It’s a good thing he did, as Sanders got behind the defense to open himself up for an easy throw and catch from Wallace at a critical juncture in the game.
Simply put, Ole Miss needed points on that drive. Had the Rebels punted the ball away still down seven, there’s no guarantee they’d have gotten it back. It seemed like the quintessential moment for Wallace to force a throw that wasn’t there, trying to do too much in a big moment.
But Wallace did just the opposite, and with that throw alone he reestablished himself among the better quarterbacks in the SEC. However, the Ole Miss senior was far from finished.
After Ole Miss forced a turnover and got the ball back with time to drive the field for a game-winning score, Wallace was again faced with a make-or-break moment in the biggest game of his life. The moment seemed to cater to his impatient, panicky demeanor, but once more he went against everything we thought we knew about him, calmly leading Ole Miss down the field before finding a wide open Jaylen Walton in the end zone to take a 23-17 lead.
When Senquez Golson pulled down an interception to clinch a Rebels’ victory, it was Wallace who earned much of the praise. The same Wallace whose inconsistent play earned him a number of nicknames from every media outlet in the country (we’ve gone with Dr. Bo and Mr. Pick) was now the man being mobbed by teammates and fans to celebrate the monumental victory.
How did we get here? How could a player so polarizing, so frustratingly inconsistent, have grown into the hero he was on Saturday? It just doesn’t make sense.
One answer could be Wallace’s experience. He entered this season with 26 career starts under his belt, more than any other quarterback in the SEC. He’d played Alabama twice before in his career, and although he stunk like a skunk in both of those games, he had a much better idea of what he’d be up against this time around.
But it has to be more than that. Wallace was expected to fail by almost everyone with an opinion. The narrative of “Good Bo” vs. “Bad Bo” dominated College GameDay in the Grove, as well as CBS’ pregame broadcast, and it’s fair to say most experts were projecting “Bad Bo” to rear his ugly head against the Tide. (That ugly head would’ve still had some great hair though.)
And even though Wallace called last week a “normal week,” it wasn’t. He was ripped to shreds in the media, and was given little margin for error against a damn good Alabama defense. There’s nothing normal about the circumstances Wallace faced on Saturday when he stepped between the white lines in front of 61,000 fans inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and millions more watching on TV.
But maybe that’s what freed him of the shackles holding him back this season. He had nothing to lose. He was expected to fail, and everyone watching the game was looking for an excuse to blame Ole Miss’ poor play on Wallace.
It crossed the line of high expectations and ventured into the realm of unrealistic. And at that point, all you can do is go play. When you know you can’t meet expectations, you begin playing the way you did at a younger age — for the love of the game and for the love of your teammates.
That’s what Wallace did. He wasn’t aiming to please anyone but his brothers on the Rebels’ sideline, and that freed him of his dual-personality manta. There no longer was he “Good Bo” or “Bad Bo.” Just Bo.
Bo came to play against the No. 1 team in the country, and Bo won the game when no one thought he could.
Sure, there was some luck involved, and it’s fair to say his veteran savvy helped him during the week leading up to the game. But something changed within Wallace, and he responded with the best game of his life. Fans will always remember the name Bo Wallace for the win over ‘Bama, and they’re quickly forgetting about his terrible performances over the year. (I bet Jevan Snead wishes he had a win like that to make fans forget the woeful end to his career.)
Will Wallace be able to duplicate this performance on a weekly basis? With some positive attention coming his way, will he be able to live up to the hype the same way he overcame the downpour of negativity? We’ll find out this week in the Rebels showdown with Texas A&M.
But until then, let’s enjoy one of the great performances in the SEC this season for what it is. Wallace is the most unlikely of heroes, and stories like his are why we love College Football.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.