OXFORD, Miss. -- Good Bo. Bad Bo. Criticized Bo.
Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace has been called every name in the book -- some that only Twitter could create.
"That thing's the most annoying thing I've ever heard," Wallace said Saturday of the good-bad moniker.
After Saturday's 23-17 win against Coaches' Poll No. 1 Alabama, capping an historic day of college football in the state of Mississippi, call the senior signal-caller what you will.
"He managed the game extremely well for us," Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. "Nothing is going to just jump out on the stat sheet that's going to wow you, but that was kind of the plan we talked about all week."
Game-manager Bo? How about worthy Bo? Wallace has been the subject of much ire. The most experienced quarterback returning in the Southeastern Conference, he has a knack for making huge plays, also a knack for throwing the ball into triple coverage.
But what often gets overlooked in the big picture is this: Since Wallace took over in 2012, Ole Miss has made a steady climb from the SEC basement to this year, SEC contender. The Rebels won seven games his sophomore season and eight last season. He has two bowl wins, MVP of both. He's climbing up every record in the Ole Miss book, Eli Manning status. After finishing 3-5 in the conference both the last two seasons, he has led the Rebels to a 2-0 conference start, 5-0 overall after Saturday's win.
Against Alabama, he used his legs -- 32 yards rushing on a team-tied high 11 carries. He used his arm -- 18-for-31, 251 yards and three touchdowns. The last two touchdowns were clutch throws on back-to-back drives to tie the game and take the lead, a 34-yarder to Vince Sanders and a 10-yarder to Jaylen Walton.
Last season, ahead of the Alabama game, Wallace drew national attention for his mouth when he said he felt like his team could score on the Tide. What was taken out of his quote was that he felt like Ole Miss could score on anybody. It wasn't a swipe at Alabama. It was a vote of confidence for his team. What should he say? I'm pretty sure we can score on everyone except Alabama?
There were missed opportunities on Saturday. On the game's opening drive, Alabama failed to cover the slot, but instead of a potential touchdown pass, the Rebels called a timeout and later settled for a field goal. In the second quarter, Wallace missed a wide open Cody Core standing past midfield on a third down.
"He came to the sidelines and said, 'Coach, I just missed it. Man, I just made a bad throw,'" Freeze said. "He managed the game very nicely. In the second half, he made some big-time plays. He just played so solid. On that last touchdown, that ball was right where it needed to be for us."
Freeze said before the go-ahead score, he gave Wallace a chance to pick between two calls. He made the right call and made the right play.
Wallace managed the win over Alabama, but he's more than a game manager. He's a risk-taker, a natural one. He's going to throw the ball into the chest of a defender every now and then. He took second-half chances against Nick Saban's highly touted unit. But Freeze couldn't think of a throw that Wallace forced on Saturday, a trait he's often guilty of.
But Bo Wallace now owns two wins over top-10 teams. Saturday marked the first time Ole Miss has beaten a No. 1 team and the first time the Rebels have beaten Alabama in 10 tries. (He also beat No. 6 LSU last season.) Katy Perry was one of an inordinate amount of celebrities in Oxford, a list that may not even stop with Woody Harrelson, Ronnie Dunn, Zac Efron, Liam Hemsworth and Octavia Spencer. Five Memphis Grizzlies -- Mike Conley, Tayshaun Prince, Vince Carter, Jon Leuer and Nick Calathes -- watched from the sidelines.
But Bo was the biggest star. And yes, just Bo. And right now, Ole Miss is perfect as it heads to yet another SEC slugfest -- next week at Texas A&M, which just fell a couple hours away to in-state rival Mississippi State, the state's other undefeated team. If Wallace gets the blame, shouldn't he get the credit?
"Who knows what the next week holds, but I know tonight, Bo played and led his team to defeat, depends on which poll you look at, the No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 3 team in the country and he deserves credit for being a big part of that," Freeze said.
No matter what happens next week or the week after, Bo Wallace has been an immeasurable part of what Freeze described when he was hired as a team trying to find its way out of the wilderness.
Ole Miss is out of the wilderness. And even if the promised land is an SEC championship or, wait for it, a slot in the four-team playoff, Wallace may unfortunately never get the credit he deserves. That's unfair. That's Unfortunate Bo.
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