Auburn's Defense Looks to Continue Resurgence and Contain Dak Prescott

AUBURN, Ala. — Ellis Johnson wasn't ready for "The Dak Attack" last season.

In his third game as Auburn's defensive coordinator, the coaching veteran had a game plan for his defense that centered on slowing down Mississippi State quarterback Tyler Russell, who had been battling an injury.

However, just before kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Bulldogs sent out Dak Prescott for his first SEC start.

But the dual-threat quarterback had no problem with the pressure placed on him—he compiled 346 total yards and two rushing touchdowns in his team's close 24-20 loss to the Tigers.

"We didn't have a really good plan, and when we tried to adjust it on the fly, [Mississippi State] still did an excellent job," Johnson said. "His runs last year—designed runs—were really the biggest problem we had in that game. So we obviously know what he's capable of doing."

Prescott won't take Auburn by surprise this season, but he will defend his home turf at Davis Wade Stadium this Saturday as a much-improved player—a Heisman front-runner—for a No. 3 squad that has knocked off back-to-back Top 10 opponents.

"He was not as good [last season] at reading coverages and as accurate throwing," Johnson said. "And right now, he's as good a dual-threat quarterback as there is in America. He's throwing the ball on time. He's throwing it accurately."

The unquestioned leader and focal point of Dan Mullen's high-powered offensive scheme, Prescott will be the main target for an Auburn defense that has also made incredible strides since last season's dramatic meeting between Auburn and Mississippi State.

The Auburn defensive line had several question marks heading into the season without the likes of Dee Ford and Carl Lawson. While the pass rush isn't anywhere close to what Johnson wants from the unit, the front four has helped Auburn become one of the top rush defenses in the country.

Category	Statistic	SEC Rank	FBS Rank
Points Allowed per Game	14.4	2nd	9th
Rushing Yards Allowed per Game	100.2	3rd	13th
Passing Yards Allowed per Game	206.4	6th	33rd
Total Yards Allowed per Play	4.58	2nd	13th
Opponent Scoring Percentage in Red Zone	64.71%	2nd	8th

And, even after a complete shutdown of the LSU offense in last Saturday's eye-opening 41-7 rout of the Bayou Bengals, the Tigers still think there is plenty of room for improvement.

"As the season went on last year, we drastically progressed," senior defensive tackle Gabe Wright said. "Go through another spring and fall, and it really helped us make strides. And even seeing some of these games that are described as dominant, there's still so many mistakes that could be cleaned up."

Wright and the rest of the Auburn defense have already kept one of the nation's most prolific rushing quarterbacks in check this season.

Kansas State's Jake Waters, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in two Big 12 games this season, finished a Thursday night showdown against Auburn with negative-seven rushing yards.

Gus Malzahn said he hopes his defense will be able to carry over the confidence from stopping Waters into this weekend's matchup in Starkville, but the head coach admits Prescott will be a new kind of challenge.

"They're a different team than Kansas State, and that was just that specific plan for that week it worked out," Malzahn said. "He's an outstanding quarterback...he's like a running back when he runs it. "

Jim Lytle/Associated Press

One area Prescott looks especially dangerous against the Tigers will be on the scramble. Auburn's defense has allowed a few big runs from quarterbacks when the coverage wins out but the containment breaks down.

"We can't do anything different scheme-wise, because we've got to play the coverages we've got," Johnson said. "We've just got to do a better job of staying in our rush lanes and keeping him boxed up...any time you rush and you've got all man-under and no zone, you've got nobody hanging around there to help you, and that's got to improve."

While Auburn's Heisman candidate, Nick Marshall, is more of a shifty and agile runner, Prescott likes to beat defenses on the ground with his power.

For senior cornerback Jonathon Mincy, seeing a player of Prescott's caliber means he and his teammates on defense will put special focus on one area of their game.

"Someone who can be a run and pass threat like that, and also being a bigger body that can get into the second level, that's going to be big," Mincy said. "But we feel like we can stop anybody. It's going to come down to tackling...we're going to go out there and do our job."

But Auburn will not be able to just worry about Prescott's running ability.

Jim Lytle/Associated Press

The junior is averaging 244 yards per game through the air and has 14 passing touchdowns to just two interceptions this season. Although Prescott struggled with his passing accuracy last season, he is coming off a big win against Texas A&M in which he completed 76 percent of his passes.

"I thought he threw the ball decently last year," Malzahn said. "They hurt us on some big throws. They hit four verticals and he made a very good throw. This year, it seems that he’s a lot more confident, knows where everybody is and is in total control."

After several weeks of success on the field and a week of focused preparation, this resurgent Auburn defense will look to slow down a talented Heisman hopeful who has already garnered comparisons to another bigger, dual-threat quarterback who recently won the award.

More specifically, a Heisman winner who was coached by Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee.

"All I know is our defense had their work cut for us, and we do too," Lashlee said. "I hope he’s not Cam Newton on Saturday."

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of CFBStats.com.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.