STARKVILLE — Dak Prescott will probably have dreams about the Alabama defensive front.
The Mississippi Sate quarterback was sacked twice — including on the first play from scrimmage — on the opening series against Alabama on Saturday afternoon. He ran the ball three more times on the drive and took a beating. In fact, he took a beating the entire game. He said never has been hit that much.
“(I’ve got) general body soreness,” Prescott said. “I don’t know how (today) will feel.”
No. 3 Alabama sacked Prescott seven more times and made life miserable for No. 20 MSU in a 31-6 victory before a crowd of 62,435 at Davis Wade Stadium.
The second-largest crowd in school history watched as MSU (7-3, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) allowed the most sacks in coach Dan Mullen’s seven-year tenure. The nine sacks also were the most by an Alabama team under coach Nick Saban in his nine seasons in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“They weren’t really doing anything special,” Mullen said. “They just kind of beat some guys. I don’t think we did a great job of protecting the quarterback.”
Junior defensive lineman Jonathan Allen led Alabama (9-1, 6-1) with three sacks. Junior defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson had two-and-a-half, junior linebacker Ryan Anderson had two, and junior linebacker Tim Williams had one-and-a-half. Junior linebacker Reuben Foster led the Crimson Tide with 10 tackles.
Prescott said the Alabama front was as advertised and described them as “talented, big, and strong.” The Crimson Tide had six sacks and limited the Bulldogs to a field goal in the first half.
“That just put us behind chains and changed the play-calling because we were behind the chains trying to catch up,” Prescott said. “We’ve got to communicate, we’ve got to do things better, and I’ve got to get the ball out of my hands.”
Even with all the pressure, Prescott was 22 of 43 for 300 yards. He rushed for 14 yards on 26 carries, but he had a long run of 17. He became the 12th player in Football Bowl Subdivision history to have 8,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards in a career.
Prescott leaned on his favorite target, junior wideout Fred Ross, throughout the game. Ross had eight catches for 114 yards. Junior De’Runnya Wilson had three catches for 38 yards.
MSU had 393 yards of offense, but couldn’t score touchdowns in three trips into the red zone.
Ross said Alabama made trips into the red zone discouraging.
“They just kind of made everything tight,” Ross said. “Passes are harder to catch and running holes are really small.”
MSU failed to score a touchdown for the first time since a 21-3 loss to Oklahoma State in the 2013 season opener in Houston, Texas.
The Bulldogs looked to take a 7-0 lead on their second possession in the first quarter. Junior running back Brandon Holloway reeled off a 19-yard run that gave MSU a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line. Prescott’s first two passes fell incomplete and then he rushed for 2 yards to bring up fourth-and-goal from the 1.
There was no doubt in Mullen’s mind what to do.
“They’re a great team, we had the ball inside the 1, we’re an aggressive team, and I want to get touchdowns,” Mullen said.
Prescott took the snap on fourth down and rushed up the middle, but he was met by Denzel Devall and failed to break the goal line. Prescott said it was a straight run and there was no option for an audible.
Mullen said he didn’t know if that affected the outcome of the game, but Ross said he could feel the momentum shift.
“Momentum plays a huge role in college football,” Ross said. “I definitely felt like that played a big part in the game.”
The Bulldogs rushed for 89 yards. Brandon Holloway led the way with 34 yards on seven carries.
Trailing 24-3 midway through the third quarter, MSU moved to the Alabama 7, but a false start and two more sacks dropped the Bulldogs back to the 21. Westin Graves made a 39-yard field goal to cut the lead to 24-6.
“It’s pretty simple how the game works. You follow a plan to win. They did, we didn’t,” Mullen said.
Graves also made 31-yard field goal midway through the second quarter, but he missed a 50-yard attempt early in the second period.
MSU will play Arkansas at 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPN) at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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