Alabama Football: How Tide Can Stop Dak Prescott

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If Alabama is looking for a blueprint in stopping Dak Prescott and Mississippi State, Nick Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart only have to flip through their game plans from a few years back.

In 2009, it faced the mighty Florida Gators in the SEC Championship Game, an Atlanta re-match of the year before. That team featured a Heisman-worthy quarterback who, up to that year, had been coached by Dan Mullen, then the offensive coordinator of the Gators and now the head coach at Mississippi State.

It was a similar style of quarterback and play, and the Crimson Tide held Florida to just 13 points in a route that propelled Alabama to its first national title under Saban.

Prescott will likely be the biggest individual threat Alabama faces this year. He’s drawing a lot of comparisons to Tim Tebow for his playing style and what he’s doing for the Bulldogs.

“Just an all-around athlete,” Alabama cornerback Cyrus Jones said. “A big guy who can run and has a great arm. Manages that offense well. It's going to be a challenge for us as a defense. But I think with our preparation we'll be ready."

He’s a Heisman front-runner who compares well to some previous Heisman winners, as Mississippi State is happy to point out.

Prescott could add another similarity among him and two of those other Heisman winners. Both Johnny Manziel and Cam Newton came into Bryant-Denny Stadium and beat Alabama, sending their campaigns into high gear.

So how can Alabama stop Prescott?

The Crimson Tide have a few ideas, and they’re similar to what happened in the Georgia Dome five years ago.

Contain, contain, contain

Prescott has had a lot of success because of his ability to make plays with his feet as well as his arm.

He showed off that ability early in the season against LSU.

The challenge for Alabama will be keeping him in check as much as possible, especially in passing situations. That starts up front.

“It's pushing the pocket and making the quarterback throw in the pocket when you press the pocket up against him so he can't step up and attack the middle of the field or step up and run,” Saban said. “We have to do a better job of being very disciplined in what we do up front in terms of how we rush pass rush lanes and how we push the pocket.

“[We have to] not be so worried about, 'I want to sack the quarterback so I'm going to lose contain or I'm going to be pushed by the quarterback and now he has alleys and lanes to scramble.' Those are the critical things I think we need to do as a front so that we have really good control of the pass rush lanes and pushing the pocket.”

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There can be a temptation, though, to abandon the pass too early, which is when defensive backs can easily get beat.

“If he gets through the line of scrimmage, we sometimes have our backs turned or are covering way down field,” safety Landon Collins said. “They can get 15 or 20 yards on a quarterback run, especially if he's a quick quarterback. It could be detrimental especially if we're in a third-down situation and they just take off and run.”

Force bad throws

This could be a key to every game against any quarterback, but it’s especially important when facing one where there is such a small margin of error.

Prescott certainly qualifies there.

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He’s seventh in the country in quarterback rating (158.49) and tied for fifth in yards per attempt (9.3). While he gets a lot of attention for his big plays on the ground, he’s just as—if not more—effective through the air.

“I think he’s one of the best passing quarterbacks that we’ve played against all year,” Saban said. “He’s probably one of the best in the country. It’s a difficult combination when you have a guy who is big, physical and has the ability to run the ball on quarterback runs, which creates another gap. … He has the ability to really effectively, and efficiently, pass the football, down the field, short, and really take advantage of the very thing that you do to try and stop him as a runner.”

One of the most memorable plays for Alabama in that 2009 SEC Championship was Javier Arenas’ interception of Tebow late, which effectively sealed the win.

Arenas made an athletic play to close a window Tebow thought was there to thread a touchdown over the top.

It was just Tebow’s fifth interception of the season. Prescott right now only has seven. Those kinds of plays will be the difference on Saturday.

Discipline

To be able to capitalize on the two previous points, it’s going to take discipline from Alabama’s defenders—a trust in teammates that they’ll have your back while you’re doing your job.

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It could be tempting, for example, for a safety like Collins to be focused so much on stopping his running threat that he loses his man in the secondary, which could lead to a big play through the air.

“In the secondary, it's your job to play the pass first,” Collins said. “You got to look at your man and not look at the wrong things. And be ready if he runs to be there in run support and help the linebackers out. You definitely have to play your responsibility first and worry about the run second.”

There’s a trickle-down effect across the entire defense. The defensive line can’t over-pursue, as Saban mentioned, trying to make a big play and in turn give him a running lane. Linebackers need to play their assignments in the open field.

“It’s tough,” linebacker Reggie Ragland said. “You’ve got to read your keys and make sure everyone up front does his job. If you do that, you’ll be successful.”

Marc Torrence is the Alabama Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats come from cfbstats.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.