Two undefeated SEC teams entered to play in Starkville. Mississippi State came out with its hands lifted high, winning 48-31 as the combination of Dak Prescott and Josh Robinson was too much for the Aggies to handle, while Kenny Hill had himself his worst game in the 2014 season, which went too perfectly for him so far.
Hill had only two interceptions going into this game, but ended up throwing three. Not all of them were his fault, the first one especially which was more of a drop by Boone Niederhofer. Yet Hill threw all of his picks to the same player, Richie Brown, who obviously was able to get into Hill’s head at some point, as the Sophomore quarterback completed only 37-of-62 passes, as the Aggies fell apart in the second quarter, heading into halftime behind 28-10 despite scoring the first touchdown of the game.
If the LSU game wasn’t enough, Dak Prescott had a bit more for everyone as he bursts into the lead of the Heisman candidacy. The Junior quarterback finished with five touchdowns – two throwing, three taking into the endzone himself. He hasn’t thrown an interception in the last three games and looked very sharp coming off a bye week, finishing with a total of 336 yards on the ground and in the air, completing 19-of-25 passes.
His partner in crime was Josh Robinson, the running back who finished with 107 rushing yards (49 came on one huge run in the first quarter which also got a Aggies player ejected for roughing up Prescott) and scoring two touchdowns. Robinson has now rushed for 592 yards this season and has gone over 100 three times, his best against LSU with 197 yards. Brandon Hallaway helped out with 76 yards on only five carries, as the Texas A&M defense fell apart under the pressure from the Ole Miss O-line and running game, especially after the controversial ejection.
This was another step into the upper echelon of the SEC and College Football for Mississippi State. They’ll be in the top 10 come the polls later on Sunday, there’s no doubt. They’ve now beaten top 10 rivals on back-to-back games, and this win over the Aggies is their biggest ever over a top 10 rival. The only other one in double-digits came against #3 Florida in 2000. Accoring to quite a few statistical measurements, despite going into this game as the #12 team in the polls, Mississippi State have been the best team out of all the other SEC undefeated teams.
National championship? There’s still a way to go. There’s Auburn at home, a tough Kentucky team on the road, at Alabama and also on the road against Ole Miss. The SEC might be closer than ever this year without one or two “super” teams, which makes a perfect record down to the finish almost impossible, and also very difficult to predict. Texas A&M aren’t out of the running yet, but their next six games, which includes five ranked opponents, looks anything but comfortable, especially now that a weakness or two have been exposed.