Jesse Palmer was Right All Along
Oct 11, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott (15) walks through the celebration line after the game against the Auburn Tigers at Davis Wade Stadium. Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated the Auburn Tigers 38-23. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
Think back to last year. There are a lot of memorable parts to the 2013 Egg Bowl for Mississippi State fans. Obviously Dak coming off the bench and leading the team to victory and Bo Wallace fumbling the ball away in the end zone are at the top of the list. Another one that is in the discussion though is when Jesse Palmer declared before anyone else that he thought Dak Prescott was a potential dark horse Heisman candidate.
Don’t get me wrong, Dak would have gotten to the point where he is without Jesse Palmer saying a word, but Palmer created all of the early buzz. Obviously Mississippi State fans embraced the comments made by Palmer. The rest of the college football world? Eh, not so much.
Sure there were come who seconded what Palmer said, but they were in the minority. There was all kinds of criticism about what Palmer said that night. The first was that there was no way Mississippi State could win enough games to even be considered. The Bulldogs play in the SEC West, remember? Some said the Bulldogs ceiling would be 8 games. No way are they going to be capable of winning more than that, and quarterbacks don’t win the Heisman without winning games. Well, here we are after six games with six wins. You still have to win the games, but Mississippi State has already won three games that many didn’t expect them to. And the reason they are doing so is because of the playmaking ability and leadership of Dak Prescott.
The other criticism so many hurled towards Dak Prescott was the fact that he couldn’t put up enough stats. They bemoaned his 10 touchdown to seven interception ration. They said he wasn’t accurate enough with a 58% completion percentage. He has currently thrown for 1,478 yards, an average of 246 yards, and completed 96 of 154 attempts for a 62% completion percentage. Most impressively he now has a 14 to 4 touchdown to interception ratio. And if that wasn’t enough, he can punish defenders when he decides to put his head down and run the ball. He has run the ball for 576 yards on 106 attempts with 8 touchdowns. Add it all up, and Dak Prescott has accounted for 2,054 yards of total offense, an average of 342 yards a game and 22 touchdowns, just under four a game. He is putting up the necessary numbers as well.
The game against Auburn might epitomize just how great of a player Dak Prescott actually is. The Auburn defense presented the biggest challenge for the Bulldogs yet, and they were putting their best effort out there. They were in Dak’s face all day and hitting him hard. The receivers were being covered well the entire game and forced Prescott to throw the ball away or make some difficult throws. Despite that, Mississippi State won this game because of Dak Prescott. When he was struggling to find a rhythm in the passing game, he was using his legs to run over defenders. There are times when you just have to find a way to win. Dak Prescott did that against Auburn.
Dak Prescott is the leading Heisman candidate. He has completely legitimized everything that was said about him in the offseason and single handedly made Jesse Palmer look like a genius. Dak Prescott is also making all those who couldn’t take their eyes off of a stat sheet for a few minutes and watch what he was capable of look foolish. There is still 50% of a season to play, but the Heisman trophy is Prescott’s to lose at this point.