Bo Wallace's Complicated Ole Miss Legacy

There's Good Bo. 

There's Bad Bo. 

There's the quarterback who owns the University of Mississippi records for career offensive yards, total offense in a season and most completions in a season. There are times when Bo Wallace looks like one of the school's all-time greats, like Saturday against Mississippi State University. 

But we can't forget Bad Bo. The Bo Wallace who threw an interception on the last play of the game against LSU this season, despite a game-tying field goal being within reach. The Wallace who threw two picks and no touchdowns in a 30-0 loss to the University of Arkansas didn't make himself look like a Rebels legend. 

But that's what Wallace is: a legend. 

To understand why he is, it's important to know where Ole Miss was before he got there. 

When Hugh Freeze took over in 2012, he inherited a program that had been run into the ground by Houston Nutt. In 2011, Ole Miss was 2-10 overall and lost all eight SEC games. 

The Rebels were punching bags. And Freeze, more than anything, needed a quarterback. 

He found Wallace at East Mississippi Community College, where the gunslinger set junior college records for passing yards (4,604), total yards (4,810) and touchdown passes (53). He was also 12-0 and won the national title. 

In Wallace's first season with the Rebels in 2012, he put up better numbers than anybody had since Eli Manning, who last played for Ole Miss in 2003. 

He finished with 2,994 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and completed 64 percent of his passes. More importantly, he won seven games, including the Egg Bowl and the BBVA Compass Bowl. 

That season not only gave Rebels fans new faith in the program, but it gave Freeze a bona fide quarterback who could develop into a winner. 

After Wallace's first year, fans wanted him to take that next step. In more ways than one, he did. And so, too, did the program. 

For Wallace, 2013 saw him tear up the stat sheet with 3,346 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. The Rebels also won eight games—one notch higher than 2012.  

Two years removed from a two-win season, and the Rebels were making significant progress. Oxford fans wanted more. 

And in the first half of 2014, they got more. 

Through seven games this season, Wallace and the Rebels were brilliant. They were 7-0 and poised for a playoff berth. They had that season-defining win over the University of Alabama under their belt. 

In those same seven games, Wallace had 17 touchdowns through the air and just six interceptions, with half of the latter coming in a Week 1 win against Boise State. 

Then LSU happened. The Rebels lost 10-7, and the Oxford faithful wanted a scapegoat. All fingers pointed at Wallace, who not only threw the game-crushing interception on the final play but was also limited to just 176 yards on 14-of-33 passing. 

Bad Bo had reared his ugly head in that game. 

Against Arkansas, Bad Bo showed up again, as he threw two interceptions, completed just 51.6 percent of his passes and didn't score a single point. 

But it's important to remember that over the course of his three-year career, which is a bowl game away from completion, he was Good Bo. He was the guy who helped Freeze establish a new culture in Oxford. 

Ask coaches at any level of football what they need to be successful, and the answer will be a quarterback. 

Freeze, in his attempt to rebuild Ole Miss, found a great one in Wallace. 

Through Good Bo and Bad Bo, there is one important thing to remember: Without him, this program wouldn't be among the elite SEC squads. That's what defines his legacy.