Mississippi State’s offense has been more than fine this season. The Bulldogs are averaging 41.8 points per game, ninth in the country, and 529.7 yards of total offense, which ranks them No. 10. They’ve been that excellent the past two games, putting up 43 points per game and 514 yards of offense. Impressive on the surface, those numbers become even more eyebrow-raising when you recall that one of the Bulldogs’ top offensive weapons has been on the shelf since for those two games.

Senior wide receiver Jameon Lewis, Dak Prescott’s most reliable target, suffered a leg injury in State’s win over LSU, the first of three in a row over top-10 teams. The injury’s severity wasn’t originally known, and with a bye week following the win in Tiger Stadium, folks figured Lewis would be back in the lineup pretty quickly. But he was ruled out of the Texas A&M game, then again declared inactive against Auburn. Now, with another bye week, Lewis is back at 100 percent, according to coach Dan Mullen, and he should be back on the field against Kentucky on Saturday.

That’s bad news for the teams remaining on Mississippi State’s schedule. While Lewis’ numbers aren’t quite at the same level they were a season ago, when he led the team with 64 receptions and 923 receiving yards, he provides a dangerous, versatile threat to complement emerging beast De’Runnya Wilson. While Wilson is the prototype receiver, a massive, athletic threat who can go up and get any ball, Lewis presents a very different set of problems for opposing defenses.

Usually, you hear about the “triple threat” in reference to Wilson’s first sport, basketball. It carries over to the football field for Lewis. Last season, the 5-foot-9 Lewis created touchdowns in every way imaginable. A high school quarterback, Lewis had 3 passing TDs (two went to Prescott), and all of Prescott’s career receptions have come from Lewis. He also rushed for 3 scores in addition to his 5 receiving touchdowns. Lewis has only been involved in two scores this season — one a catch, the other a pass to Prescott — but his presence will give the Mississippi State offense a new dimension. It’s not often that Dan Mullen’s Bulldogs call for gimmick plays, be they reverses or receiver passes, but when they do it’s all Lewis, all the time.

Additionally, while Wilson is more than capable of hauling in a pass downfield and taking it the distance, he’s not in Lewis’ league when it comes to catch-and-run scenarios. The diminutive player is able to bring in a pass around the line of scrimmage and create yardage on his own. With the way Wilson has developed in recent weeks, re-instituting that type of option is only going to supercharge an already powerful offensive machine.

As Prescott continues his Heisman campaign and the Bulldogs play with a target on their backs as the No. 1 team in the country, getting back the element of unpredictability will.  

 


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