E-mail Pete Fiutak 
Follow me … @PeteFiutak 

There’s good Bo, there’s bad Bo, and there’s 2014 LSU Bo. 

When I first got into this business, I made a point to never go too far when it comes to criticizing players. Yeah, they’re on scholarship, and yeah, it’s childish and wrong to call these guys amateurs, but they aren’t professionals, and that means they have to be treated a bit differently. With that said – and not to say anything the Rebel coaches won’t – all the way around, Bo Wallace had one of the worst possible performances by a big-game, NFL prospect, veteran quarterback. 

To be fair, the LSU defense played out of its gourd, looking as fast and as athletic as any of the killers Les Miles has put together in recent years. Also, the offensive line didn’t give Wallace much of a break. However, this was one of those games that a top SEC team usually wins because it has the experienced quarterback who should be the calmest, most mature leader on the field and the sidelines. Instead, Wallace couldn’t seem to stop jawing, and he appeared affected by the woofing and hollering from the Tigers and fans – he was thrown off his game. Sometimes players get jacked up by the trash talk, and sometimes players collapse in the crazy environment. 

He always seemed flustered, he air-mailed way too many throws, took way too many chances – LSU missed several pick opportunities – and up until the end, he never seemed like he was ready to be The Guy who could step up through the adversity and pull the game out of the fire. 

There’s a reason why guys like Tebow, Newton, and this year, it appears, Prescott, turn out to be legends – it’s not easy winning games against teams like LSU in places like Death Valley. 

Even through all negatives, the defense was playing at a high enough level to give Wallace one more shot at redemption. Even after completing 14-of-33 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown. Even after everything was going wrong for the offense, and after all the problems, all he had to do was not royally screw up on one final throw, and his team would’ve had a shot to at least get to overtime. 

And then Bo Wallace went 14-of-34 with an absolutely puzzling throw for a horrible, horrible pick. As if his day wasn’t bad enough, it had to go to a whole other level. 

But there’s hope, and for a guy whose entire career has been defined by adapting and maturing – through Arkansas State and the JUCO level and the rough patches early on at Ole Miss – now he gets a chance at a great comeback story. Now he gets a chance to turn this back around. 

Ole Miss is still in the College Football Playoff by winning out. If the Rebels beat Auburn, win at Arkansas, and close out with a win at Mississippi State, it’s off to the SEC championship game. Go 12-1, Bo Wallace, and you’re in the show. 

Go Bo, bad Bo, 2014 LSU Bo … Redemption Bo? 

E-mail Rich Cirminiello 
Follow me … @RichCirminiello 

Never, ever, ever count out a Les Miles-coached team. 

Certain select programs are instantly competitive, regardless of the circumstances, simply because of the man at the helm of the ship. LSU is one of those programs. This has been anything but an ideal set of circumstances for Miles in Baton Rouge. The team is very young after being depleted—again—by a wave of players leaving early for the NFL Draft. And the inconsistent play of the underclassmen quarterbacks has been a drain on an otherwise talented running game. Yet, the Tigers are evolving on the fly as the season unfolds, one of the signs of a really well-coached team. 

Since bottoming out with a 41-7 loss to Auburn on Oct. 4, LSU has won three straight games, capped by yet another fourth-quarter comeback under Miles to hand Ole Miss its first loss of the year. It wasn’t pretty. Far from it. The Tigers are still making way too many mistakes, including four turnovers, yet they found a way to do what Alabama couldn’t back on Oct. 4—put away the Rebels. John Chavis’ defense was fantastic, blanking Ole Miss over the final three quarters. And Leonard Fournette and the ground game spearheaded a game-winning 95-yard drive in the fourth quarter that’s going to haunt Hugh Freeze and his kids for the rest of the season. 

There’s something magical about Miles, and it has a knack of rubbing off on all of his kids. Pound-for-pound, he did not have the better team tonight in Baton Rouge. The scoreboard, though, indicated otherwise, further proof that one of college football’s quirkiest characters is also one of its most talented leaders and coaches. 

By Phil Harrison
Follow me @PhilHarrisonCFN

Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze is going to be second guessing himself from here to the end of his existence — pulling a Les Miles on Les Miles himself, but having it backfire.

If you would have told Freeze that his team would get the ball and move it down the field for a game tying field goal with LSU running time off the clock, late, you can bet your magnolias that he would have taken it in a nanosecond.

That’s exactly the situation the Rebels found themselves in, but then the coaching staff got to thinking too much, pulled the placekicker from the field after a couple stoppages of play, including a delay of game, and decided to give it the old college try and take one last shot to the end zone.

Game over.

Bo Wallace, after struggling all day, seemed to want to make a play and inexplicably decided to throw one up for grabs for a heart wrenching interception . Once again, another team’s high hopes were dashed in Death Valley.

LSU, thought to be about the fourth best team in the West division, showed a stout defensive team how to play an even higher level of defense by harassing Wallace all night, making things mighty tough for the Rebel offense. Les Miles’ young team is starting to get better and will still have plenty to say before this SEC thing is all said and done.

The SEC West strikes again, and it won’t be the last time it cannibalizes itself.