Dak Prescott Continues to Show Why He's Nation's Most Underappreciated QB

Twelve months ago, Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott was America's football darling.

He was fresh off five weeks of being the unquestioned front-runner in the Heisman Trophy race, had led Mississippi State from anonymity all the way to the No. 1 ranking and looked like head coach Dan Mullen's version of Tim Tebow in Starkville.

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Then Mississippi State faded down the stretch, never really got back into contention this year and other quarterbacks like Clemson's Deshaun Watson and Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield jumped to the front of the national discussion.

Prescott proved again on Saturday that he should not only be in that discussion, but perhaps near the center of it.

The senior threw for 508 yards and five touchdowns, rushed for 46 yards and two touchdowns and out-dueled Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen in a 51-50 win in Fayetteville.

How good is Prescott?

Mullen seems impressed, according to Bob Carskadon of HailState.com:

On the season, Prescott now has 3,159 passing yards on the season, has tossed 23 touchdowns, just three interceptions and scored nine times on the ground.

The dirty little secret in Starkville is that, while Mississippi State isn't in the title picture, Prescott is better in 2015.

Significantly better.

Butch Dill/Getty Images

He is a much more polished passer on deep routes, which makes him nearly impossible to stop when added to his timing on short and intermediate routes, as well as his work on the ground.

He joined prestigious SEC company this year when he became just the second quarterback in SEC history to pass for 40 career touchdowns and rush for 40.

The other?

Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who claimed the 2007 Heisman Trophy and is likely the second-best player Mullen ever coached.

Prescott won't win it this year, but he certainly deserves to be in consideration for an invitation. While other contenders like LSU running back Leonard Fournette and Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott have tailed off in November and Mayfield left his team's game on Saturday against TCU, Prescott is improving on what already was a stellar body of work this season and throughout his career.

That matters to Heisman voters, even if they don't explicitly state that "career achievement" factors in to their voting habits.

Whether it's based solely on this season or to honor one of the game's all-time greats, Prescott deserves recognition for what he has accomplished in Starkville.

He has put Mississippi State on the map, etched his name all over the SEC record book and been consistent over a critical two-year span in which his Bulldogs underwent significant roster turnover on the offensive side of the ball.

He's done so in the SEC West, which arguably has more talented players than any other division in the country. 

He is the nation's most underappreciated player.

In that race, he has put his competition in his rearview mirror.

For the sake of the Heisman Trophy, Saturday night should have put him back into the discussion.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.