Alabama's Swarming Defense Kills Dak Prescott's Heisman Campaign

Dak Prescott played his worst game of the season in the game in which his team could least afford it, throwing three interceptions in a 25-20 loss at Alabama.

The final score says Mississippi State lost by five points and outgained Alabama by 97 yards, but in this case, numbers do lie. Prescott threw his second touchdown with 15 seconds left on the clock, making things seem closer than they were when in fact the game was over—for all intents and purposes—a few drives earlier.

Two of Prescott's picks came inside the red zone, including one in the end zone in the third quarter and one on Mississippi State's second-to-last possession. Alabama swarmed and hit and confused the Heisman front-runner until he looked like he was anything but.

Prescott's Heisman run crashed and burned in Tuscaloosa—or, if you prefer, it was crashed into and set aflame.

Either way, it is now a mound of ash.

"

If the earlier INT didn't kill Dak Prescott's Heisman hopes, that one probably did.

— ESPN SEC (@ESPN_SEC) November 15, 2014"

Prescott finished with decent enough numbers, throwing for 290 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 82 yards on 22 carries.

But don't let the look of that fool you. Just like Mississippi State was more than five points worse than its opponent, Prescott was more than 100 yards worse than his final stat line.

The Bulldogs' first six drives, for example, ended like this: punt, safety, punt, interception, punt, punt. The interception drive was the only drive that gained more than 30 yards, and the first drive was the only other drive that gained more than six yards.

The other four drives gained an average of less than a foot.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Mississippi State came within three seconds of failing to score in the first half for the first time since…last year's Alabama game (of course). It entered with the No. 13 offense in the country, per the F/+ ratings at Football Outsiders, but Alabama made it look out of sorts.

Never was that more clear than on the Bulldogs' final possession, which took 3:03 of the residual 3:18 off the clock. Time and timeouts were wasted in the red zone because head coach Dan Mullen refused to let Prescott make a(nother) mistake. The offense was running QB draws and sprint options on intuitive passing downs.

"Besides [the mistakes], he played really well," Mullen said of Prescott, per Bob Carskadon of HailState.com. "Gave us everything he got."

Yeah. Except a player they could trust to make a throw.

The reality is that Alabama's defense won at every level Saturday: in the trenches, over the middle and in the secondary.

Defensive end A'Shawn Robinson was a monster, tipping Prescott's third interception at the line. Safety Nick Perry was a missile, finishing with 12 total tackles and a pick. Cornerback Cyrus Jones—once considered the biggest liability on the team—was tested and tested and tested, and he passed and he passed and he passed.

In its previous home game, Alabama pitched a shutout against Texas A&M. The home game before that, it held Florida to 200 total yards. On Saturday, it laid waste to a year-long Heisman campaign.

The Crimson Tide at home are the surest bet in college football, which is bad news for the rest of the conference—and the non-SEC College Football Playoff contenders—because they won't be leaving Tuscaloosa for the rest of the regular season.

Which means they likely won't be losing another game.

Follow Brian Leigh on Twitter: @BLeighDAT