How Dak Prescott Can Win the Heisman

Nov 23, 2013; Little Rock, AR, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs running back Josh Robinson (34) carries the ball against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the second half at War Memorial Stadium. Mississippi State won 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

The Bulldogs Must Punish the Opposition with the Running Game

Once again, I am talking about a quarterback, so why is the running game so important?

The obvious answer is that running the football will be a big part of Dak Prescott’s game. But the more that teams are having to focus on stopping the run, the more it will open up the field for Dak Prescott to hurt teams through the air. His running ability is going to keep lots of teams honest this year. I will never forget his Freshman season how the coaching staff was setting up an opponent in the SEC for Dak to hurt teams with his arm. In the early part of 2012, whenever Mississippi State was in a short yardage situation, they would often insert Prescott to grind out the yard or two needed to get the first down. He never threw the ball in those situations. The entire time this was going on, I was thinking to myself that they are going to shock an SEC team by faking a QB draw and have Dak throw to a wide open receiver when they bring Dak in on short yardage. They did that against Tennessee. When Dak is punishing people with his legs and the defensive coordinators start bringing an eighth and ninth player into the box, Dak will start burning them with his arm.

One of the reasons he is being declared a Dark Horse candidate and not a front runner is because we don’t know what to expect from our running backs this year. Yes, both Josh Robinson and Ashton Shumpert have shown potential, but our sample size is small with those guys. If Dak is having to handle over 50% of the carries, the chances that he gets injured go up, so we need these guys to step up big if Dak Prescott is going to be in New York.

And they can certainly do it. Josh Robinson averaged nearly 6 yards a carry last year. No, he didn’t get the carries the Perkins got, but it was pretty easy to tell who the best back on the team was. The Bulldogs have a big physical team, and this might be the year when it’s the Bulldogs wearing the opposition down and then throttling them in the second half. With Russell and Perkins, as much as I loved watching them play, they didn’t match the identity of the team and it showed most often in the second half. That should stop with Precott and Robinson in the game.