Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said he did not want quarterback Bo Wallace to throw to the end zone during the final drive of Saturday’s 10-7 loss to LSU.
With 9 seconds remaining and the Rebels on the 30-yard-line, Wallace chose to throw toward the end zone instead of taking a safer route along the sideline or even throwing the ball out of bounds.
LSU safety Ronald Martin intercepted the pass at the 1-yard line with 2 seconds left to hand the Rebels their first loss of the season.
"I think Bo would tell you, I thought we were pretty clear we were either going to take the flat throw or throw it out of bounds and try the field goal," Freeze said after the game. "He must have felt like he had a shot at the touchdown play there, the clear-out guy. But no, I wish I could do that over for sure."
Wallace didn’t offer much of an explanation for the decision following the game.
"I'm not going to talk about it," Wallace said. "One-on-one, threw it up -- done."
It was an unfortunate ending to an otherwise hard-fought game.
Freeze actually sent kicker Gary Wunderlich out to attempt a 42-yard field goal with 9 seconds to play, but the Rebels were flagged for a delay of game penalty, which backed them up five yards. Still, the kick was within the range of Wunderlich, who had kicked a 46-yarder against Alabama earlier in the year.
Freeze said it wasn’t the distance that bothered him so much, but rather the right hash, which Freeze said was not Wunderlich’s favorite side. So, after LSU called a timeout to ice the Ole Miss kicker, Freeze thought he’d take one more shot to see if he could get the ball closer to the end zone and on the side that Wunderlich preferred.
Even though Freeze said he expressed this to Wallace, his quarterback had designs on winning the game outright.
"I told him to sprint out and either take the flat throw right now or throw it out of bounds," Freeze said. "Still, worst case, you’re still at the same point. We were trying to get it to the left hash for him or left-middle. We just didn’t get it done there."
For more Ole Miss news, visit RebelGrove.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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From Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo Sports - Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said the final play of the LSU game was not what he drew up
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