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A game-by-game look at Bo Wallace and his two alter egos, Dr. Bo and Mr. Pick.
Well, in re-watching this game, I am reminded that it takes almost two quarters for me to find a play that made me think “wow, what a throw” from Bo Wallace. On 3rd and 4 Wallace scrambled around for a little bit, then threw a perfect ball over the head of a Tennessee DB and into Vince Sanders hands to move the chains. The very next play they hooked up again on pretty much the same throw, minus the whole scrambling around bit.
The next truly legit throw didn’t come until Wallace found Evan Engram for a 28-yard touchdown immediately after Tennessee turned the ball over. It was really the perfect call as Engram released down the seam and was running pretty much by himself, so had Bo missed him, it would have been a huge mistake. But, he didn’t miss him, which is all that matters.
I don’t mean to say that Wallace had a bad game outside of these throws, because he didn’t. But, these were the only ones that caused me to perk up. His decision making across the board has gotten better and better as the season has progressed, which is the biggest thing when trying to put Mr. Pick to rest. Maybe the best thing for Wallace and Ole Miss is to put the whole “Dr. Bo” moniker to bed, because it seems like the less Wallace tries to do, the better the offense looks. He will never get labeled as a “game manager” because he does posses the talent to make some impressive throws. That being said, when watching his game against Tennessee, he wasn’t asked to do a whole lot, and the Ole Miss offense ran very smoothly for the majority of the game.
As Ole Miss puts more wins on the board, the pressure will continue to mount as the inch closer to the Egg Bowl. Will the team be able to go undefeated? Will Wallace revert to some bad habits? Will he end up costing them a game? These are all questions that will be tossed around in the coming weeks, and being able to handle that pressure will speak volumes as to what Wallace and this Ole Miss team is made of. They are one of the best teams in the country and in order to stay in the mix, they will need Wallace to continue to operate at the high level he is playing at right now.
The upcoming matchup against LSU in Death Valley will speak volumes about what we can expect from Ole Miss as we enter the home stretch of the season. Night games at LSU have been known to rattle some players, so it will be interesting to see how Wallace reacts to the always impressively loud crowd. I am just about ready to say Mr. Pick is dead, but I still have a feeling he is lurking somewhere underneath that Dr. Bo exterior. If he doesn’t show up this weekend in a hostile environment, maybe Wallace will have proven he was able to put one alter ego to rest, the one every Ole Miss fan is hoping to never see again.
Worked for the internet in Los Angeles before being lured back to Florida by SEC football and the promise of a bourbon bar. When he's not internetting or watching football, he's probably out giving himself 4-footers on the golf course.
