LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — If you trust his head coach, Mississippi State sophomore quarterback Dak Prescott isn’t playing in the Egg Bowl matchup against Ole Miss this week.
Prescott has been medically ruled out of each of the last two games against No. 1 Alabama and Arkansas due to a severely pinched nerve in his left arm and MSU coach Dan Mullen went further with his health status Saturday afternoon. After the 24-17 overtime victory over Arkansas Saturday, Mullen said Prescott would not play against Ole Miss on Thanksgiving night in Starkville but could be able to return for a postseason game if the Bulldogs pick up the victory to qualify for a bowl game.
“Dak is out till a bowl game,” Mullen said.
In the post-game media conference at War Memorial Stadium, Mullen saw Liberty Bowl representative Steve Ehrhart in the background of the room and point out him to declare Prescott could be ready for a possible 13th game on the 2013 schedule.
“I hope Dak can play in the Liberty Bowl,” Mullen said.
Prescott was not seen with the rest of the quarterback group after Wednesday’s practice and was seen Saturday on the sidelines in jersey over a sweatshirt.
Russell got his sixth start of the season Saturday and drew every possession of the game except for the second and final drives. Freshman Damian Williams saw his first significant college action as the backup and even ran in on certain short yardage scenarios that were held back specifically for Prescott last season.
“Those guys [Russell and Prescott] do a good job of keeping me up in practice even when I do something bad,” Williams said. “They show that they really love and care about me.”
In the final drive of regulation that ended with a missed 42-yard field goal by Devon Bell, Russell took a violent shot from a Arkansas pass rusher that left him down on his stomach and unable to move the right side of his body. After the hit, Russell he was forced to signal to the MSU training staff with his left hand only to come attend to him immediately. Russell’s status for Thursday’s matchup against Ole Miss is still unknown until the team doctors can evaluate him back in Starkville.
Russell was less than 100 percent healthy after suffering a right shoulder injury trying to make a tackle late in the loss last week to No. 1 Alabama.
n MSU rides special teams roller coaster: MSU went through another 60 minutes of highs and lows with its special teams performance Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Sophomore kicker Devon Bell missed a 42-yard field goal at the end of regulation and had a 28-yard kick blocked in the third quarter. Bell, who had lost the field goal job to walk-on Evan Sobiesk, had missed three field goals in a row prior to making a 24-yard attempt into a stiff wind in the first quarter.
“I’m sure you would ask the question but in overtime if we needed a field goal, he would’ve gone right back out there,” Mullen said. “He got a hold of a that (42-yard) kick now. He hit it and I thought ‘oh, this could go in’ but karma will come around and eventually the ball will go through the uprights.”
However, MSU manufactured a fumble recovery on a kickoff as freshman defensive back Tolando Cleveland forced his second career fumble and first since the victory over Alcorn State. Cleveland dumped the Arkansas receiver forced to field the squib kick by Bell and immediately caused a fumble that was recovered by freshman linebacker Beniquez Brown.
With the Razorbacks up 10-0 in the second quarter, Arkansas was MSU stopped a fake punt on a rollout by junior Sam Irwin-Hill that looked to be sniffed out by the Bulldogs defense immediately. It was the Bulldogs’ third fake punt halted this season after stops against Alcorn State and Troy.
“Mississippi State runs punt safe formations quite a bit,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said. “We thought we had a very, very good look. It was the look that we wanted and we gave it the green light ‘Go,’ and obviously missed a critical block. If I had it to do all over again, I obviously wouldn’t do it.”
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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