STARKVILLE — Christian Holmes is becoming a regular in the end zone for Mississippi State.

Four weeks after he scored his first career touchdown, a 51-yard kick return for a score at Kentucky, Holmes was at it again Saturday night in MSU’s 51-0 win over Vanderbilt.

Early in the second quarter, with MSU already leading 13-0, Holmes struck, forcing a fumble from Vanderbilt wide receiver Letavious Rayford before picking the ball up and sprinting 51 yards for the score to put MSU up 20-0.

“(Holmes) getting that fumble return touchdown was a huge play,” said MSU coach Dan Mullen, whose team improved to 10-1. “I think it kind of broke the game open.”

That it did. But Holmes’ big play — MSU’s first defensive touchdown since Week 2 against UAB — was just part of a dominant effort by MSU’s defense, a unit that allowed just 228 total yards and allowed only two Vandy trips inside the MSU 20-yard line. After forcing just two turnovers in their previous four games entering Saturday night, MSU’s defense was disruptive from the start against Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs forced three first-half turnovers, which included a pair of interceptions in addition to the fumble recovery by Holmes. Sophomore cornerback Tolando Cleveland and sophomore linebacker Beniquez Brown each had a pick as MSU’s defense held Vandy to just 109 yards in the first two quarters.

“We kind of broke our slump tonight with the turnovers,” said Mullen. “That’s something we talked about all week, and tonight once we got this first one,it all kind of followed from there.”

MSU’s three-turnover performance helped the Bulldogs earn their second shutout of the season and their first SEC blanking since a 17-0 win over South Carolina in 1999. It was a shutout that was important to MSU’s defense, a group that has not allowed a touchdown in three of the team’s 11 games this season.

“We wanted it,” said senior linebacker Matthew Wells, who was credited with three tackles and 1.5 sacks Saturday night. “Even when the young guys were in, we were rooting for the shutout. When they made that last play, the sideline exploded. We were so happy.”

n Prescott shines: A week after throwing a career-high three interceptions in a loss at now-No. 1 Alabama, MSU quarterback Dak Prescott returned to form Saturday night, as the junior accounted for 223 yards and four touchdowns to lead MSU to its 10th win in 11 games.

“I thought Dak played extremely well,” said Mullen. “He missed a couple of reads, maybe tried to force a throw in when it wasn’t there. But overall, he played well.”

Prescott was especially explosive in the first half, as reopened the game completing his first eight passes for 82 yards on the Bulldogs’ first two drives. He had three touchdown passes in the first half, which included scoring tosses of nine yards to senior tight end Malcolm Johnson; 27 yards to junior wide receiver Joe Morrow; and 13 yards to tailback Josh Robinson, who hauled in his first touchdown reception of the season. Prescott completed 13 of his 16 pass attempts in the first half for 151 yards. The Haughton, Louisiana native also rushed five times for 21 yards and a four-yard touchdown in the opening 30 minutes.

On the night, Prescott, who was taken out with four minutes left in the third quarter, passed for 193 yards and the three scores while rushing for 30 yards and a touchdown.

n “To Morrow, to Morrow”: Junior Joe Morrow had the game of his career. On a night that saw nine different Bulldogs notch receptions, Morrow turned in the first multiple-touchdown game of his career and finished with five catches for 79 yards, both career-highs. The Ocean Springs native caught touchdown passes in each half, including a 27-yard strike from starting quarterback Dak Prescott. He also teamed with backup Damian Williams for a nine-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“Yeah, two touchdowns, great job by him stepping up tonight,” said Mullen of Morrow, who now has four touchdown catches this season. “We roll a lot of guys through at receiver, we have a lot of talented guys. (De’Runnya Wilson) didn’t play. He was cleared to play, but we got into the game and felt like we didn’t need him. Our guys who did play stepped up for us.”

Morrow’s first score, the 27-yarder, featured three broken tackles by the 6-foot-4, 210-pound receiver.

“I caught the ball, turned around and saw open space,” said Morrow. “They hit me pretty good, made me pretty sore. But nothing an ice pack can’t fix.”

n Statement win: At times times this season, MSU has struggled to close out blowout wins, yielding late touchdowns in otherwise-easy wins over LSU, Texas A&M, Kentucky and UAB. But not Saturday night. Against Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs’ defense – including its backups – held Vanderbilt out of the end zone, and allowed just two Commodore drives within the MSU 20-yard line.

For MSU seniors like offensive lineman Ben Beckwith, the shutout was important.

“We wanted to go out on a high note,” said Beckwith. “We’ve had some trouble of not finishing some games this year, but we finished tonight. We wanted to go out in front of our home fans and play as well as possible.”

n Home cookin’: MSU’s 51-point win wasn’t just a blowout win over Vanderbilt. Instead, it was the culmination of a dominant season at home, where the Bulldogs gave the home fans one last show and made a little history along the way.

With the rout, MSU earned the first 10-win regular season in school history, and finished unbeaten at home for the second time.

“I’m happy for our fans, they were a big part of us finishing 7-0 at home,” said Mullen. “I’ve said all along that to compete for championships in this league, you have to win your home games. I want to thank these sellout crowds for giving us that noise. I think we are 18-3 over the last three years at home, that doesn’t happen by accident.”

n Bouncing back: For the first time this season, MSU took the field on Saturday looking for redemption after a loss. One week after a 25-20 loss at No. 1 Alabama, the Bulldogs shook off any lingering effects of that loss early and were never challenged while racking up the biggest margin of victory over an SEC opponent since 1936.

“I was asked all week, ‘How are they going to respond?,’ ” said Mullen. “I would say they looked good in practice, they were working hard. But to be honest, you really don’t know how they respond until you get out there for a game. Practice is one thing, responding in the game situation is totally different. I couldn’t be more pleased with how we played tonight. Offense, defense, special teams…We were flying around the field.

“It didn’t matter who was in the game, either. That was Mississippi State football tonight.”

n Egg Bowl next: While MSU’s players celebrated their victory over Vanderbilt, attention quickly turned to MSU’s next game, next Saturday’s trip to arch-rival Ole Miss for the Egg Bowl.

“It’s a huge game, one that’s always circled on the calendar,” said MSU guard Ben Beckwith.

Mullen, all smiles after the game, was asked about the importance of Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game.

“Well, I don’t think they like me very much in Oxford for some reason. I think I’m a nice guy,” said Mullen with a smile. “But this is always the biggest game of the year, it’s for bragging right. We know they’ll be ready and it’s just one of those games that will be big every single year.”

Follow Dispatch Sports Writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat