Long in the Tooth

To compare the top two quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference this year:

Mississippi senior Eli Manning finished with 27 touchdown passes and a quarterback rating of 147.5.

Louisiana State redshirt junior Matt Mauck had 28 touchdown passes and a rating of 152.2.

Manning may be a top-five pick in the 2004 NFL draft.

Mauck may enroll in ... dental school.

Sink your teeth into that.

Of course, while Manning is preparing for the pros, Mauck is preparing to face Oklahoma for Sunday’s bowl championship series title game in the Sugar Bowl.

Manning is said to be everything the pros look for in a quarterback, while Mauck’s name can’t be found on any NFL mock draft -- or even a Mauck draft.

The LSU star hasn’t received so much as a Christmas card from NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.

“You know,” Mauck joked, “Mel has not called me. I’m waiting for him to call, but he hasn’t called me.”

Mauck made second-team all-SEC this year but not a single NFL watch list. He was not a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the nation’s top quarterback.

If any of this bothers Mauck, he doesn’t show it.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I kind of judge my performance on wins and losses. Twelve and one is the only number I look at.”

At 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Mauck is built like a minor league catcher, which he was in the Chicago Cubs’ organization.

Yet, in almost stunning anonymity, he has put together one of the finest seasons an LSU quarterback has had, which is saying something at a school where Bert Jones and Y.A. Tittle stood under center.

Mauck’s 28 touchdown passes established a season record, yet he is seen mostly as a facilitator on a star-studded cast.

At 24, he is the oldest player on the team, six years older than many of the team’s freshmen.

His career path ought to be taught at perseverance seminars.

“It’s been a difficult road for him,” Nick Saban, his coach, said.

Mauck is one victory shy from making this a happy ending.

Or will it be the end?

Though he graduated in December, Mauck still has a year of football eligibility remaining. However, he may forgo his senior season to enroll in dental school.

“I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do yet,” Mauck said.

Why would anyone give up a shot as quarterback of one of college football’s top teams to administer shots of Novocain?

“Basically to get started in a graduate program, just the amount of time it takes,” Mauck said.

Mauck already has seen enough of life to know the advantages of moving on.

If he is able to win a national title this year, and the pros don’t want him, what’s the sense of sticking around?

Mauck’s circuitous route to football stardom already has been dizzying.

When Saban was coaching at Michigan State, he offered Mauck a football scholarship.

At the time, though, Mauck fancied himself a baseball player. Raised in Jasper, Ind., he led his high school team to consecutive state baseball titles and, in 1997, was named Mr. Indiana in baseball. He signed with the Cubs and spent three years in the minors.

Mauck eventually grew tired of breaking balls and eight-hour bus rides. He missed football.

“I missed the team camaraderie,” Mauck said. “In baseball, you have friends, that backup catcher may be the guy you go out with at night, but the next day he’s probably thinking, ‘I hope you’re 0 for four.’ Not that he doesn’t like you, but just because it helps his situation out more.”

Mauck got a second chance when Saban offered him the chance to come to LSU.

Mauck was already 22 when he made his mark in LSU history, coming off the bench to lead the Tigers to a stunning upset of Tennessee in the 2001 SEC title game.

With a win, Tennessee would have advanced to the Rose Bowl to play Miami for the national title. Everything appeared headed the Vols’ way when LSU starter Rohan Davey was knocked out of the game with an injury.

Mauck, though, who had played in only three previous games, rushed for 43 yards and two touchdowns in relief and was named game MVP.

He won the starting job in 2002 but was knocked out midseason because of a foot injury.

Mauck returned this year and put together a dream season, throwing for 2,701 yards with 28 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions.

Mauck, not Manning, led the SEC in pass efficiency. In fact, Mauck ranks No. 14 nationally.

Mauck is 17-2 as an LSU starter and says his advanced age is a plus.

“There is an advantage, maturity-wise, to be able to handle things and realize it’s kind of ‘what have you done for me lately,’ ” Mauck said. “You can’t get too high or too low.”

Mauck won’t decide until after the Sugar Bowl whether he’ll come back for his senior year or become a 25-year-old dental student.

He would love to be discovered by someone from the NFL, but their charts and graphs have apparently determined he doesn’t fit the model.

“It’s something I’d really like to be able to do,” he said of the NFL. “But it’s kind of like dental school. You really have nothing to do with the fact of whether someone accepts you or doesn’t accept you. I would love the opportunity, I think I could do it, but I don’t make those decisions.”