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Mississippi State Loss to Ole Miss Proves Dak Prescott Will Never be Tim Tebow

By Caleb Calhoun

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Mississippi State’s hopes for a spot in the College Football Playoff were likely dashed on Saturday after losing to Ole Miss 31-17 on the road Saturday. It was disappointing for the SEC but is something that should have been expected.

Ole Miss has a very good defense, and its only job on offense all year should have been to not screw things up, which it couldn’t avoid doing for three games this year.

Fortunately, despite still not being great, Bo Wallace was good enough Saturday, and his supporting cast was amazing. That was enough for the win.

But the heart of what happened Saturday proves one thing: Dak Prescott will never be the SEC legend that Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow was.

The quarterback for the Mississippi State Bulldogs has been compared to Tebow since his career began. It makes sense. Prescott always said that Tebow was the player he wanted to model his game after. They have very similar styles.

Mississippi State’s head coach, Dan Mullen, was Tebow’s offensive coordinator at Florida. And both players are north-south runners who have very accurate arms. In fact, Prescott has a better arm and may even be a smarter quarterback.

But the comparisons have to stop now. Tebow has one thing Prescott has never had: intangibles.

Mississippi State will not play for any championships because Prescott, as great as he is, could not come through when things were rough.

On Saturday, he never made THE play to put the Bulldogs back in control. When the Bulldogs cut the lead from 24-10 to 24-17 and then got the ball back with a chance to tie the game, Prescott took a terrible sack. They had to give the ball back, and Jordan Wilkins put Ole Miss ahead 31-17 after a great run and then a great catch.

Prescott willingly rolled over after that. Then, when Mississippi State still had a chance and got inside the Ole Miss 5-yard line, Prescott threw three incomplete passes.

Does anybody honestly think Tim Tebow would ever throw three incomplete passes inside the 5-yard line in a close game? Remember, Prescott and Tebow in the spread option offense are both built for situations when they need five yards and have four plays to get there.

But Prescott couldn’t come through. That never would have been the case with Tebow.

Think it’s unfair to compare them off of one game by Prescott? Let’s rewind then.

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In the loss to Alabama, Prescott lost the Heisman by throwing 3 interceptions in Alabama territory when Mississippi State had a chance to score. Two of those came in the Alabama red zone when the Bulldogs were in the midst of a great comeback.

The Bulldogs lost 25-20, and it was due to Prescott’s interceptions. Who honestly thinks that in those moments, Tebow would ever throw 3 interceptions? Tebow could take that Mississippi State supporting cast in an NFL game, and in that situation he would avoid turning the ball over.

Actually, we saw Tebow in NFL situations, and he never did turn it over in crunch time.

Prescott lost that game on his own. Tebow never lost a college game on his own.

In fact, Tebow willed the Gators to close victories at times. See Oklahoma in the 2008 national championship game and Arkansas in the 2009 season.

It should be noted that there are no games this year in Mississippi State’s dream season where Prescott came through in a tight situation. He racked up his numbers to move to the top of the Heisman race in a bunch of blowout wins. When things got tough, he choked.

He gets no credit for that close win against Arkansas. That was all Josh Robinson and Fred Ross.

And he couldn’t put the team on his shoulders to beat Alabama or Ole Miss.

Not enough for you? Try the 2013 season. Prescott didn’t even play in Mississippi State’s overtime victory over Arkansas, and he had absolutely nothing to do with that overtime win against Ole Miss that year. That was all the defense.

He also managed to blow a game against Auburn that year.

Prescott simply doesn’t have the clutch gene that oozes out of the guy he is compared to. And we can bring up the other recent great SEC quarterbacks, including current ones.

Blake Sims and Nick Marshall both are more reliable to make a crucial play than Prescott was. Cam Newton was far more reliable.

Prescott goes in the same class as AJ McCarron, two players who are good but never had intangibles to come through when things mattered most. McCarron was just fortunate enough to never have to make a play for most of his career.

Yes, Prescott is a great player. Yes, he is a huge reason that the Bulldogs are even as good as they are. But no, he will never belong in the same sentence as Tebow when it comes to SEC quarterbacks unless he can come through on his own in tight games.

Some people have the clutch gene and intangibles, some don’t. Prescott, it appears, doesn’t. And it’s why Mississippi State is not going to make the College Football Playoff.

But we want to be a little fair and admit that the Bulldogs never would have had a chance without Prescott.

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