STARKVILLE — Sorry, wrong number.
Thousands of Mississippi State fans poured into Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday, countless hundreds of them — from old folks to co-eds to little kids — wearing Dak Prescott No. 15 jerseys for what was supposed to be a triumphant curtain call for their beloved quarterback.
It turned out to be a dominating performance by a quarterback, all right.
But the hero this night was wearing No. 10.
Chad Kelly — New York-bred, Clemson humbled and East Mississippi Community College reclaimed — upstaged Prescott in a near-flawless performance, leading Ole Miss to a surprisingly easy 38-27 win over the Bulldogs.
The Rebels left with their second straight Egg Bowl victory and first in Starkville since 2003.
Oddly, the two quarterbacks’ stats almost mirrored each other. Both passed for two touchdowns and ran for another. Prescott finished with 317 total yards, Kelly with 310.
But the key stat belonged to Kelly. While Prescott lost a fumble and threw an interception — both of which were turned into touchdowns — Kelly played turnover free.
In his defense, Prescott was a victim of a tenacious Rebel pass rush (seven sacks) behind a make-shift offensive line that displayed the same consistency you associate with wet paper mache.
Prescott fumbled on the Bulldogs’ opening drive, which Kelly promptly turned into a touchdown on a 27-yard run, then threw an ill-advised pass on a desperate attempt to pull the Bulldogs out of a 14-0 hold that the Rebels’ Tony Bridges turned into a 45-yard pick-six and a 21-0 Ole Miss lead just 13 minutes into the game. It was just Prescott’s fourth interception of the season. Without question it was his most costly.
By halftime, it was 28-3.
“We dug ourselves too big a hole,” Bulldog coach Dan Mullen coolly observed afterward.
Of course, funerals always start with big holes.
So, while Prescott ran for a touchdown and passed for two more in the second half, at no point were the Bulldogs going to emerge, Lazarus-like, from this deep, gloomy grave.
You can thank No. 10 in white for that.
Kelly, the nephew of NFL Hall-of-Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, put that pedigree on display against the Bulldogs, much as he has all season.
This was particularly true in the first quarter when, for all intents and purposes, the game was decided.
During that 15 minutes, Kelly had four runs for 38 yards, including the game’s opening score, and completed all six of his passes for 79 yards and another score. His 36-yard TD pass to Damore’ea Stringfellow in the second quarter put the Rebels up by a commanding 28-3 margin.
And on a night when Ole Miss made the Bulldogs pay dearly for Prescott’s two turnovers, Kelly, who had thrown 12 interceptions this year, committed none.
Incidentally, the Kelly family has now evened its record in Starkville. Uncle Jim’s Miami Hurricanes lost to the Bulldogs 14-10 34 years ago when a Kelly TD pass was wiped out by an illegal procedure penalty in the final minute.
There were no such dramatics for Jim’s nephew in what will be his only appearance in Starkville, which is at least one thing Bulldog fans can be grateful for on a night when their greatest football hero proved mere mortal.
On the game’s final play, a kneel-down by the Rebels on the MSU 13 yard line, Kelly turned to toss the ball to the back judge, who wasn’t paying attention. So he tucked it in his arms, moving along the field to accept pat of the backs from the Bulldogs’ players whose respect he had earned.
It was supposed to have been Prescott’s night.
But it was Kelly’s game.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected]
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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