If Ole Miss Quarterbacks Could Stop Throwing ALL THE INTERCEPTIONS, That Would Be Great

Eli Manning is set to host Saturday Night Live this weekend, and as long as Doug Buckles isn't in the building, things should go fine for him.  If not, well, it doesn't always go so well when those two are near each other:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=okjG1jaK42w?rel=0

Anyway, good for Eli.  His Super Bowl victories and MVPs are mostly responsible for him getting asked to do the show, but I think he deserved the call for starting three years at Ole Miss (remember how we wasted a year of eligibility of the greatest player in school history?  WELL DONE, DAVID CUTCLIFFE.) and the best skill player he played with was Chris Collins.  Who you ask?  EXACTLY.

It's been eight seasons since Eli last played at Ole Miss and in those eight seasons, Ole Miss has had just two winning records, with total record of 38-58 (.396).  And in that pile of losses, Ole Miss fans have seen a metric ton of interceptions thrown by a host of quarterbacks, most of whom were not fit to play in the SEC.

To give you a real feel of the bloodbath, here's the tally of touchdowns and interceptions thrown since 2004:

Year     TDs     INTs
2004       7        13
2005       9        18
2006       9        10
2007      17       20
2008      27       15
2009      22       21
2010      17       14
2011       9       13 

Total:   117    124

That's four seasons in which Ole Miss did not reach double digits in touchdown passes and five seasons in which more interceptions were thrown than touchdowns.  It's a miracle any of us have enough sanity to function as contributing members of society.

By comparison, LSU, one of the top teams in the SEC West, threw 171 touchdowns and 84 interceptions in that same span.  Mississippi State, a fellow bottom-feeder, had 97 touchdowns and 112 interceptions in those eight seasons. 

So, the lesson here is, we're going to be terrible next year, probably not winning more than four or five games, but, if we can somehow find a way to throw more touchdowns than interceptions, I'll celebrate that achievement like our looming triple-overtime win over Central Arkansas.

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