Dak Prescott (15) is a load to bring down for defenders. (Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports)
When this college football season opened, there were plenty of quarterbacks in the nation who were mentioned as possible Heisman Trophy candidates. There was even one in Mississippi. It was Bo Wallace in fact, the quarterback at Ole Miss.
But nobody was talking about the quarterback at Mississippi State. But seven weeks in that has changed, and Bulldogs’ quarterback Dak Prescott is in every Heisman Trophy conversation. In fact, the words Dak Prescott are usually preceded by the words “leading Heisman Trophy candidate.”
The legend that Prescott is building took another giant leap last week when he led the Bulldogs to a 38-23 win over defending SEC champion Auburn. And it wasn’t really that close thanks to Prescott and the rugged Mississippi State defense. In the win over the Tigers, Prescott accounted for three touchdowns and 367 yards in total offense and was named Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season — even though he wasn’t particularly proud of his play in the game.
“This team did a great job tonight,” he said. “I had one of my subpar games of the season, and I didn’t play very well. My teammates rallied around me and did a great job of making plays.”
The junior threw for 246 yards and rushed for 100 yards. The signal-caller is the only quarterback to record those numbers against Auburn in the last 40 years and he’s done it two years in a row.
Prescott has led Mississippi State to three consecutive wins over Top 10 teams and in the process has become the school’s career record-holder for touchdown responsibilities (53). He broke the record previously held by Don Smith, who played in 1983-86. Prescott is now fourth in school history with 25 rushing touchdowns. He is also tied with Chris Relf for sixth on the career passing list (28) and is seventh in total offense with 5,135 yards. He has passed for 200 yards and rushed for over 100 yards in four of his last five games to insert himself right into the middle of the Heisman Trophy talks. He has also been particularly effective on crucial third-down plays. The Bulldogs were successful on eight third-down tries against Auburn and have converted 37 times on the season, a 43 percent success rate.
“It’s get a first down or get off the field,” Prescott said. “Back against the wall right there, every time it’s up on third down and I want to keep the drive going, I try to play my best right there on that down.”
With the Bulldogs moving to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, more and more attention and responsibility will fall on Prescott. But State coach Dan Mullen believes the junior quarterback is up to the challenge.
“He’s going to get more attention now with his performance, but that’s what we expect from him,” said Mullen. “In order to keep winning, he’s going to have to keep playing at a very, very high level. I think he handles it well. He’ll handle it very well and he knows that all we are is 2-0 in the SEC. Getting two SEC wins is not our goal, and we want to get more.”
Prescott is getting comparisons to another former quarterback coached by Mullen when he was an assistant at Florida — Tim Tebow.
“I actually asked to wear number 15 when I first came here because of Tim Tebow,” said Prescott, who met the former Gator quarterback before the Texas A&M game. “It was an honor to get to meet him yesterday. Our games are kind of similar, but I’m a different player and I have my own type of game, but I still want to mimic him in some ways.”
One way Prescott would like to mimic Tebow is to hoist a national championship trophy. An added bonus might also be a Heisman Trophy.
