STARKVILLE, Miss. - Dak Prescott threw for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns and also caught a 17-yard touchdown pass to lead Mississippi State past Kentucky, 28-22 on Thursday night.
Prescott completed a career-high 23 of 34 passes and also rushed for 33 yards. Jameon Lewis had a 19-yard touchdown run, caught a 17-yard scoring pass and also threw the 17-yard touchdown to Prescott on a trick play.
Mississippi State (4-3, 1-2 SEC) beat Kentucky (1-6, 0-4) for a fifth consecutive season.
It’s the second time this season Lewis has had rushing, receiving and passing touchdowns in a game.
Kentucky’s Joe Mansour made a 44-yard field goal with 8:15 remaining to pull the Wildcats to 28-22, but the Wildcats could get no closer.
Kentucky’s final drive was stopped at Mississippi State’s 29 when Maxwell Smith’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
Kentucky pulled to 21-19 in the third quarter on Jojo Kemp’s 14-yard touchdown run. Then in what proved to be a key moment, the Wildcats recovered an onside kick, only to have it disallowed because of an offsides penalty.
Mississippi State took advantage. A 74-yard drive ended on the halfback pass from Lewis to Prescott, who handed the ball off before leaking into the open field for the catch, touchdown and 28-19 lead.
Prescott continued his breakout season with another complete performance. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound sophomore completed 11 of 18 passes for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first half, helping Mississippi State to a 21-10 halftime lead.
Prescott’s first touchdown pass - a 60-yard fling to a wide open Malcolm Johnson - came after he danced out of the pocket while avoiding a sack. Kentucky’s defense shifted forward because of Prescott’s ability to run, and it gave Johnson time to slip behind the secondary undetected.
The Bulldogs had 296 total yards in the first half. Mississippi State started the game with the intention of using two quarterbacks, but Tyler Russell appeared to suffer an ankle injury on his first series and never returned.
Kentucky’s offense had a few good early moments - especially on a 51-yard screen pass from Smith to Timmons that tied the game at 7-7, but the Wildcats became predictable because of their inability to throw downfield. Smith has dealt with pain in his throwing shoulder all season and wasn’t close on most of his attempts to complete long passes.
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 51, MARSHALL 49
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Logan Kilgore threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Tavarres Jefferson as time expired to give Middle Tennessee a 51-49 victory over Marshall on Thursday night.
Kilgore was 22 of 40 for 277 yards and 4 touchdowns for the Blue Raiders (4-4, 2-2 Conference USA). Jefferson had seven catches for 91 yards, and Jordan Parker ran for 127 yards and 1 touchdown on 21 carries.
THURSDAY’S GAME Mississippi State 28, Kentucky 22 SATURDAY’S GAMES All times Central Vanderbilt at Texas A&M, 11:21 a.m.
Tennessee at Alabama, 2:30 p.m.
South Carolina at Missouri, 6 p.m.
Furman at LSU, 6 p.m.
Florida Atlantic at Auburn, 6:30 p.m.
Idaho at Mississippi, 6:30 p.m.
Sports, Pages 22 on 10/25/2013