Beginning soon after his “oh, my” performance last year in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl and continuing through the first four games of this season, Mississippi State junior quarterback Dak Prescott wore the label of “dark-horse Heisman Trophy candidate.”
But after he helped No. 12 MSU dismantle No. 6 Texas A&M with cold efficiency, Prescott earned a different title.
Prescott for Heisman? Seriously?
Seriously. Just ask the Aggies. They didn’t have an answer for the Bulldogs’ imposing 6-foot-2, 230-pound quarterback.
“He played like he’s played all year, like one of the best players in the country,” said Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin, who coached Johnny Manziel, last season’s Heisman Trophy winner. “We weren’t able to match that as a team.”
It wasn’t Dak 48, Aggies 31. It just seemed that way at times.
Prescott’s statistics are becoming almost predictable. On Saturday, he ran for 77 yards and three touchdowns, passed for 259 yards and two more scores, and caught one pass for 11 yards to set up a score.
Through five games — all Bulldog wins — Prescott has passed for 13 touchdowns, ran for six, and caught a touchdown pass. That’s an average of four touchdowns per game — not that there is anything average where Prescott is concerned.
“We knew he was good coming into the game,” Texas A&M senior defensive back Deshazor Everett said. “We knew we had to come in and defend the pass and stop him from running the ball. These are two things we did not do.”
But, then, who has?
Five games into his first season as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, Prescott has become so reliably excellent that even MSU coach Dan Mullen seemed to take it almost for granted.
“I thought Dak did pretty well,” Mullen said. “He’s getting a lot of attention, and he’ll get more attention now with his performance (today), but that’s what we expect out of him.”
While it may be what Mullen has come to expect, Prescott’s performances in the past two games — a 34-29 win at then-No. 8 LSU three weeks ago and the victory against No. 6 Texas A&M — has captured the attention of the nation.
Prescott has all the credentials of a Heisman Trophy winner, including his jersey number 15, which he chose to wear as a nod to Florida’s Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. Tebow, who is working for The SEC Network, was in Starkville on Saturday. As a past winner, Tebow gets a vote.
Beyond Prescott’s numbers — the 20 touchdowns, the passing stats (77 of 121 for 1,223 yards and two interceptions) and the 455 rushing yards on 85 carries — his impact on defenses can’t be confined to his numbers.
As noted, when the ball is snapped, defenses know there are two things Prescott can do — both of them are very bad. As a result, defenses are far less likely to employ exotic formations or to take many gambles with stunts. Prescott’s ability to run and to pass are powerful motivators for defenses to play straight up. Running back Josh Robinson, a compact bowling-ball of a runner who ran for 107 yards and two scores Saturday, has been the primary beneficiary. Robinson has rushed for 599 yards and six scores this season.
At 5-0 and a lock to make their first top-10 appearance since 1999, the Bulldogs aren’t a one-man team.
Robinson is a tough determined runner. Sophomore De’Runnya Wilson is a future NFL wide receiver. Defensive tackle Chris Jones is headed for the NFL after his junior season with junior linebacker Benardrick McKinney, who doesn’t tackle runners; he consumes them. Supplementing those stars is a deep, experienced roster.
It’s a good team. It may be the best MSU has fielded, although it’s far too early to state it as fact.
But make no mistake: The Bulldogs will go as far as their Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback takes them.
Seriously.
Slim Smith’s 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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