Mississippi State sends off Dak Prescott in style with Belk Bowl rout of NC State

When Lamar Jackson is looking to the sideline for a play call, he looks coiled, like he’s frustrated that he has to stand in one spot. He rocks back and forth, crouched forward, ready to run somewhere.

The Louisville quarterback’s full-speed-at-all-times style reminds you that he’s a true freshman. He’s not much for finesse in his passing. The ball’s going to get to its destination as quickly as it can, whether it should or not. And as we saw at times in 2015, sometimes running means taking sacks.

There was no better way for Dak Prescott to go out.

The star Mississippi State quarterback, who led his team to the Orange Bowl last season and holds literally every passing record in the MSU book, got his second bowl win with a 51-28 win over NC State in the Belk Bowl.

It’s raining at the Belk Bowl, and that means Mississippi State’s mascot Bullly XXI is wearing a poncho:

This appears to be a puppy-specific poncho -- it’s gotta have a hole for a leash in it somewhere, and, you know, four legs.

North Carolina State plays Mississippi State in the Belk Bowl Wednesday evening. North Dakota State plays in the FCS title game Jan. 9. These are two different schools.

Someone please tell the Pac-12 officiating crew this.

Before Dan Mullen, Mississippi State had won at least nine games in a season just four times in 68 years. If the Bulldogs beat NC State on Wednesday, that would give MSU three such seasons in six years.

There are more games these days, which makes raw win totals a little easier to accomplish. But a win could also give MSU its third ranked finish in six years; the Bulldogs had pulled that off only four times in the 28 years pre-Mullen. If computer ratings are your thing, a good performance in Charlotte might give Mullen two of MSU’s 10 best-ever teams according to Sports Reference’s Simple Rating System.

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Bowl odds are out, and Alabama and Oklahoma are the favorites to advance to the national championship game, according to OddsShark. The Crimson Tide are favored by 10 points over Michigan State after opening as a nine-point favorite, while the Sooners are favored by four points over Clemson after opening as a 1.5-point favorite.

Elsewhere in the New Year’s Six bowls, Florida State is favored by 6.5 points over Houston in the Peach Bowl, Stanford is favored by 6.5 points over Iowa in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State is favored by six points over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and Ole Miss is favored by seven points over Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl.

The 14th edition of the Belk Bowl is set and the fifth edition since Belk took over as the title sponsor, eliminating the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Belk, a Charlotte-based department store, acquired title sponsorship rights in 2011, taking over for Meineke, although it was Continental Tire that originally sponsored the bowl.