North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams completed a school-record 38 passes against Georgia Tech this season on his way towards All-ACC status. Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner and himself an All-ACC choice, was almost flawless against the Yellow Jackets in the ACC Championship game.
Still, Georgia Tech cornerback D.J. White holds Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott in a different category.
“Very impressive,” White said. “Best quarterback we’ll see this year. The guy’s athletic, he can run. He’s not a guy who locks in on one receiver. He goes to his second and third reads. Accurate down the field. Just a guy who they can use in different ways.”
In Wednesday’s Orange Bowl, the Yellow Jackets likely can’t win if they are unable to somehow arrest Prescott, who packs strength, elusiveness and an accurate arm into his 6-foot-2, 235-pound frame. Tech fans may well remember the horrors visited upon the Jackets defense by Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas in previous seasons. Prescott, who goes by a truncated version of his middle name Dakota, would appear to be far better than Thomas.
“You can see where all the hype comes from behind him in the Heisman (race),” defensive line coach Mike Pelton said.
Averaging 249.7 passing yards per game along with 78.2 yards on the ground, Prescott ranks sixth in the country in total offense. When the Bulldogs went through then-No. 8 LSU, then-No. 6 Texas A&M and then-No. 2 Auburn in three consecutive games, Prescott threw five touchdown passes against two interceptions and averaged 101 rushing yards to elevate Mississippi State to the nation’s No. 1 spot for the first time in school history.
His 151.3 passer rating is 15th in the country. Perhaps more impressively, his rating on third-and-10 or longer is 172.5, according to cfbstats.com, fifth in the country.
He has been as instrumental to the Bulldogs’ success as Tech quarterback Justin Thomas has been to the Yellow Jackets’ season.
“He’s the true definition of dual threat,” coach Paul Johnson said of Prescott. “We like to think our guy’s the same way, just not as big as Dak.”
The solution is relatively simple, just not so easily put into practice. First, Tech will need to capitalize on blitzes, something it couldn’t do against Florida State. The Jackets will have to tackle the hefty Prescott when they get their hands on him. The Tech defensive line will need to keep rush lanes close together in order to not give Prescott escape outlets against the rush. Taking the proper angles in pursuing him will also be critical, even when tackles are missed.
“This sounds kind of crazy, but you’ve got to approach it on the right side and attack it from the correct angle, so if you do miss, you’re sending him to your help and playing team defense,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said.
The ideal would be to keep Prescott and the Bulldogs from running as much as possible and force Prescott to pass the Bulldogs to victory, which is Tech’s typical plan. Prescott’s four lowest passer-rating games this season were the four in which he attempted the most passes.
“You’d like to win some situations and make him a little more predictable,” Roof said.
But, Roof added, the Bulldogs have used maneuvers such as emptying the backfield on third-and-long situations to clear out the box and then running Prescott into that void.
“It’s a scheme that stretches your defense,” Roof said.
Roof knows it well. When he was the defensive coordinator at Auburn, he saw Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton do the same thing. Roof said Prescott reminds him of Newton “as far as the ability to run the ball and not just be an elusive guy – he’s certainly that – but also be a power runner, too.”
Further, running back Josh Robinson will be a burden all by himself. At 5-9 and 205 pounds, the second-team All-SEC back has drawn comparisons to a bowling ball. Tech has shown the capacity to handle the challenge. Against Georgia, with the considerable exception of running back Nick Chubb’s 65-yard run, Tech held him to 2.6 yards per carry.
However, Florida State’s line overpowered Tech, enabling Seminoles running back Dalvin Cook to run for 177 yards and Winston to complete 21 of 30 pass attempts.
In the final games of their Tech careers, nose tackle Shawn Green and linebacker Quayshawn Nealy will have to be stout in the middle against the considerable Mississippi State line.
“It’s like that every game,” Green said. “You stop the run, you’re pretty successful on defense.”
It’s just that simple.
About the Author
