Three years later, Wallace leads Ole Miss for final time in biggest game
The curious case of Bo Wallace has plagued Ole Miss fans for three years.
His run as the Rebels starting quarterback has featured more highs and lows than a weekly weather forecast, and fans have spent equal time cheering and moaning during his 38-game tenure.
Yet somehow, through all the glorifying successes and frustrating failures, it has all led to Ole Miss’ biggest football game in recent memory: a showdown with No. 6 TCU in this year’s Peach Bowl on Dec. 31.
If you’re trying to make sense of Wallace’s career or the Rebels’ path to a high-exposure New Year’s Six bowl, just quit now. There’s no use. Wallace’s career may be littered with upset wins and disappointing losses, but the trait he’ll be remembered for the most is inconsistency.
Wallace led Ole Miss to tremendous growth in his three seasons as the starter, never missing a game in that time. He’s won 24 of 38 career starts in the aftermath of a three-year stretch from 2009-2011 in which Ole Miss won just 15 of 37 games.
He led the Rebels to three straight bowl games, and has a postseason record of 2-0 entering next week’s Peach Bowl. He engineered upset wins over LSU last year and Alabama and Mississippi State this year, and is directly responsible for some of the greatest moments in Ole Miss football history.
He even broke Eli Manning’s record for total offense in a career, establishing himself as one of the best signal callers in program history.
But Wallace also directly cost Ole Miss in this year’s loss to LSU, and he literally fumbled away the 2013 Egg Bowl as well. He threw the most interceptions among SEC quarterbacks in 2012 and again this season, and he threw the second-most picks in the conference in 2013.
Few established quarterbacks in recent memory committed as many turnovers as Wallace and still kept their jobs. But every time it appeared Wallace might lose his starting job during the last three years, he always responded with a fantastic play to remind coaches and fans why he deserved to be on the field.
It would be naive to think Ole Miss could have gotten to this year’s Peach Bowl without its vaunted Landshark defense carrying the way, but to his credit Wallace rarely allowed himself to get in the way of success while serving as the quintessential game-manager.
And Wallace’s play in the Peach Bowl could ultimately determine his legacy at Ole Miss.
We just recounted many of the highs and lows of his career, and as you can see there are plenty of both. Wallace may be remembered for his inconsistencies, but ending on a high could allow him to be remembered for his high points in Oxford.
Ending on a low could sink his legacy.
The Peach Bowl may not be a playoff game, but it is certainly a high-profile game against a high-profile, one-loss opponent in TCU. Wallace will be asked to match the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense on a neutral site with the world watching. If history tells us anything, it’s that we have absolutely no idea what to expect from the senior signal caller.
Should the Rebels win, their program would earn a hefty pay day and would see their national perception soar. But if they lose, this season will be seen as a missed opportunity, for which Wallace (as well as injuries and bad fortune) will be held responsible.
But isn’t it ironic that after three years of moaning and groaning and wondering how much Wallace was holding the team back, the Rebels will play in their biggest game of the Wallace era in his final game with Ole Miss?
The Rebels will have to revert back to square one next season when Wallace is gone, and head coach Hugh Freeze will have to decide between troubled transfer Chad Kelly and unproven freshmen Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade in choosing his next starting quarterback.
It remains to be seen if any of the three will pan out, but it’s safe to assume the Rebels will take a step back at quarterback come Week 1 of next season.
So after all the cheering, the nail-biting, the hail-pulling, the celebrating and the crying, it seems Ole Miss fans will miss Wallace after all.
And with a .632 career win percentage, a perfect record in the postseason, a bevy of school records and a berth in the Rebels’ biggest bowl game in years, it’s probably justified.
The curious case of Bo Wallace will end next week in Atlanta. And a win over TCU in the biggest game of his life might just cement the legacy Wallace deserves.