Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.
The date? November 22, 2003. The site? Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Oxford, Mississippi.
#15 Ole Miss faced #3 LSU with the SEC Western Division title and a trip to the SEC title game in the balance.
That was the biggest game of Eli Manning’s college career.
His defense gave him a chance to pull off the upset, picking Matt Mauck off three times and holding LSU to 17 points.
After the Tigers went up 17-7 early in the 4th, Eli pulled his team within 17-14, and then drove them down the field with a chance to tie. Unfortunately, their kicker, who would go on to win the Groza Award, missed a 36-yarder, and a golden opportunity went by the wayside.
The Rebs got one more chance in the final minutes, but on fourth down and 10 from their 32, Eli dropped the ball, and Ole Miss was done. That play was the epitome of the day he had: 16 of 36, 227 yards, three sacks, and an interception (thrown to current Giants teammate Corey Webster).
Well, Eli’s come a long, long way from that forgettable evening in Oxford, and as a result, he’s earned the respect of a diehard Mississippi State fan.
I don’t think I’ll ever be a ’fan’ of Eli’s, but after last night, he’ll always have my respect, all because of one play, on one drive.
For nearly 59 minutes of Super Bowl XLII, I didn’t have a rooting interest in the game - I was just hoping that it’d actually turn out to be a great one, which it did, or at least the final quarter.
But, as Eli miraculously scrambled out of that mass of bodies and fired that pass to David Tyree, who made a catch that will be replayed time and again on ESPN and any ’top 25 so and so’ lists for a long time, all of that personal disdain flew out of the window.
And then he came two more great throws, one to Steve Smith, then the game-winner to Plaxico Burress, which was a throw that not only vindicated Burress, but also Eli, who’s taken his fair share of criticism since he forced San Diego to trade him on draft day in 2004.
With that last drive, that last quarter, those last four games, Eli earned the respect of me and many, many other people, and likely even a few new fans as well. After so many questions about if he could get the job done, if he could win those key games, how well and if he could lead, he went and answered those questions in the affirmative, quite resoundingly.
I can imagine that Eli may have had some visions of Jonathan Nichols’ miss against LSU in 2003 when Lawrence Tynes missed those first two kicks against Green Bay, but this time around, things ended better in the final moments, not once, not twice, but three times, in consecutive games against Dallas, Green Bay, and New England.
He may not have been able to get that SEC title, but he’s got something much bigger now - a Super Bowl title, and the MVP to go along with it.
Whether or not last night or the last four games is what he needed to truly become an elite QB in the NFL remains to be seen, but even if he tapers off into mediocrity, he’ll always have February 3, 2008, to look back on as possibly the best night of his career.
And if he does join big brother in being in the top tier of QBs, both current and all-time, he can look back on last night as possibly being the night that started it all.
Whatever happens, he’s come a long, long way from November 22, 2003, and this 17-14 sounds and feels a lot better than that one did.
And with that said, a word of advice to Eli: If someone from EA Sports calls, e-mails, or texts you about being on the cover of Madden in the next several years, don’t answer, no matter how much money they offer you.
