MOBILE, Ala. — Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott saw a sliver of daylight, and that was all he needed.
Capping Mississippi State’s fifth scoring drive midway through the third quarter in Saturday afternoon’s road game at South Alabama, Prescott sprinted 40 yards for his second rushing touchdown of the year and put the finishing touches on another sterling individual performance and a 35-3 win for the Bulldogs.
“I saw a little room to run and I hit the hole,” said Prescott. “Once I got through, there was nobody there. It was a good feeling.”
It was that kind of day for Prescott, who posted 364 total yards and scored a touchdown passing, rushing and receiving for the second time in his career. The Haughton, Louisiana native opened the scoring with a 15-yard TD pass to MSU tight end Malcolm Johnson late in the first quarter and he would add a 24-yard TD reception on a pass from wideout Jameon Lewis before punctuating his brilliant day with the 40-yard scramble for a score.
It was a performance that continued Prescott’s strong statistical start to the 2014 season, and a showing that helped MSU maintain control over the home standing Jags throughout.
“It is huge for us that he was able to do that (score three touchdowns),” said MSU head coach Dan Mullen of Prescott, who has now thrown for nine touchdowns, rushed for two and caught one this season. “The one thing that I noticed that Dak really did well for us today was improvising outside of the offense. I think the long touchdown run that he had was a play that he was looking to make a quick throw with, but he pulled it down and decided to run. He also had some scrambles in other situations that really kept some drives going for us outside the framework of the offense.”
Prescott’s individual showing – he completed 13 of 21 passes for 201 yards and the score; rushed for 139 yards and a TD; and added the TD catch – was emblematic of a business-like approach from the Bulldogs that was often dominant.
“He did exactly what we thought he was going to do,” said USA linebacker Maleki Harris. “He ran the ball a lot. When they needed a first down, we knew he was going to keep the ball. Their offense works around their quarterback.”
Playing before the first sellout crowd in South Alabama history, the Bulldogs overcame early sluggishness and took firm control with a 21-point second quarter, a scoring outburst that was keyed by a Bulldogs’ offense that used the ground attack to punt the USA defensive front.
In addition to Prescott, who caught his TD pass from Lewis with two minutes, 58 seconds to go in the first half, MSU tailback Josh Robinson scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. His first, a two-yard run, gave MSU a 14-3 lead with seven minutes to go in the second quarter and his second, a 15-yarder, pushed the lead to 21-3.
“We wanted to run the football today,” said Prescott. “Josh is always hard to bring down. He was just being Josh out there today.”
And while Robinson ran the ball 12 times for 78 yards, Mississippi State’s defense threatened to steal headlines from both he and Prescott.
A week after yielding 435 passing yards and 34 points to UAB, a much stingier and more physical Bulldogs’ defense took the field against South Alabama. Though it allowed 288 passing yards, MSU’s defense forced a season-high four turnovers and sacked USA quarterback Brandon Bridge five times.
Two of the sacks came at the hands of defensive end Preston Smith, the reigning two-time Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week.
Smith’s day on Saturday rivaled Prescott’s, as the Stone Mountain, Georgia senior posted two tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a blocked field goal. On the season, Smith now has two sacks, two blocked field goals, a forced fumble, two interceptions and a touchdown.
“We wanted to bounce back,” said Smith. “Last week, that wasn’t us. That’s not how we want to play. So on the defensive line, our focus this week was getting to the quarterback.”
The MSU defensive front certainly did that. The Bulldogs yielded just 57 rushing yards on 27 carries and had Bridge under constant pressure, resulting in a pair of interceptions – one by junior CB Will Redmond, one by sophomore CB Tolando Cleveland – and two fumble recoveries.
Offense shines
But as good as the MSU defense was, the day belonged to Prescott and the MSU offense. Entering Saturday’s game averaging 536 yards and 48 points, the Bulldogs were just as good against South Alabama. The Bulldogs put up 514 total yards, topping the 500-yard mark for a school-record fourth-straight game.
“They are a good team,” said Prescott of South Alabama. “So to be able to run the ball against them, it was good. We know we have a big game next week, so we felt like we had to play well to get ready for that.”
Now 3-0 for the second time in Mullen’s six years, Prescott and the Bulldogs will open SEC play at No. 10 LSU on Saturday.
South Alabama, which opened the season with a 23-13 win over Kent State last week, got on the scoreboard against Mississippi State with a 26-yard field goal from senior Aleem Sunanon early in the second quarter to cut MSU’s lead to 7-3.
But that was as close as the Jaguars would get, as the MSU defense would not allow another visit into the Bulldogs’ red zone.
“We knew how good they (Mississippi State) were on defense,” said USA coach Joey Jones. “You have to make big plays on them. We had a couple of chances early, and we didn’t take advantage of them. They kind of wore on us in the second quarter. They are a much-improved team. My hat’s off to them. They have a lot of good athletes out there – a lot of size and speed. You have to play pretty well to beat these guys, and I don’t think we played as well as we could.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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