As excited as the Missouri community was for me to show up here in the fall of 2012, the hype surrounding Maty Mauk’s arrival was far greater.

For starters, he has one of the most-quarterback names of all time. Two-syllable first name ending in a y (that isn’t spelled the traditional “Matty”), followed by a strong, one-syllable last name. (This also works for one-syllable first names followed by two-syllable last names that end in ‘y’ i.e. Tom Brady.)

(A slight digression before returning to Mauk, Rob Gronkowski is the best football name and best football player of all time.)

Beyond his name, Mauk amassed plenty of accomplishments as four-year starter at Kenton High School: national records for passing yards, touchdown passes, pass completions and total yards, as well as 278 total touchdowns, a number that is hard for me to mentally grasp.
Mauk ended up redshirting his freshman year, but added to his legend status before the season started when he was involved in a chase with police through Greek Town. Let’s not forget that Mauk was on a scooter during this chase and that he had not one (alleged) female companion, but two (alleged) female companions in tow.

Last year, his redshirt freshman season, he was given his chance to play when starter James Franklin missed four games due to injury.

Maty kept the ship afloat as the Tigers went 3-1 in the games that he started, with the one loss being the double-overtime classic to South Carolina.

When Franklin came back there were plenty of people in Tiger Nation who thought that Maty had done enough to steal the starting job. I, however, was far from convinced. Not that this was a bold stance, as the majority of people thought the starting job still belonged to Franklin, but I actually thought Maty had played pretty poorly.

I loved how Maty scrambled and improvised, and his constant desire to make a big play and/or throw the deep ball made him captivating to watch. At the same time, his desire to make those big throws and plays is what made me nervous about him. He only threw two interceptions in the games he started, but I remember multiple throws — particularly from the Florida game — that easily could have been picked off. It’s that sort of questionable decision making that led to him completing just 50 percent of his passes during his time as a starter last season.

While that was a red flag for me, there was no one else I wanted taking snaps for the Tigers this year besides Maty. I recognized that last year was his first year starting, and that a low completion percentage is only to be expected. The deep balls into heavy coverage were more than likely Maty wanting to make an immediate impact and name for himself amongst the Tiger faithful, and prove that he had been more than worth the hype.

The first three games of the year, Mauk played just as I hoped he would–with a completion percentage over 60 percent, to go along with 12 touchdowns to just three interceptions.
The last three games, though, Mauk has been completely erratic, with a completion percentage under 50 percent, and two touchdowns to five interceptions (I completely realize that two of the picks against Georgia were the wide receivers’ fault, but even still.). And in the last two games, the first two games of Southeastern Conference play for the Tigers, Mauk is 21 of 55 for a completion percentage of just 38.1, which is lower than NBA player J.J. Redick’s professional career three-point percentage.

Next week the Tigers travel to Gainesville to play the Florida Gators. When asked Saturday why he didn’t bench Maty, Gary Pinkel said he “didn’t want to.” If Maty’s play continues to spiral downward, it will no longer be a question of want, but of need.