It had been 24 years since the last time Southern Miss traveled to face Mississippi State on the gridiron, and the Golden Eagles won’t be looking forward to their next trip to Starkville after Saturday night’s performance.

The Bulldogs routed their in-state rivals 49-0 at Davis Wade Stadium, stomping out any chance of a Southern Miss upset with three second quarter touchdowns to turn a 7-0 game into a 28-0 blowout at halftime. MSU ran away with the game in the second half while maintaining the shutout through the final whistle.

Here are a couple of thoughts on the game:

What it means: The Mississippi State victory means the Bulldogs have as much promise this season as anticipated. The Southern Miss loss means the Golden Eagles are still as bad as anticipated. Dak Prescott made a few poor decisions, but all in all he delivered a huge performance to begin a potential Heisman campaign in 2014. He set single-game career highs in passing yards (284) and passing touchdowns (4). The Bulldogs ran the ball well as a team, racking up 201 yards on the ground. Prescott ran for 23 yards while new starting tailback Josh Robinson led MSU with 87 yards rushing. The Bulldogs’ “psycho defense” was all over the field in a one-sided game favoring the home team. This showdown went as most expected, which is as good for Mississippi State as it is bad for Southern Miss.

What I liked: The entire defense. The Bulldogs swarmed to the ball, made sound tackles, laid punishing hits and forced a slew of turnovers in a dominant shutout performance. More than 20 different players registered a tackle for Mississippi State Saturday night as the MSU defense limited Southern Miss to just 283 yards of total offense and 15 first downs (for comparison’s sake, the Bulldogs had 550 total yards and 30 first downs). Mississippi State forced three turnovers to repeatedly stifle the Southern Miss defense, and the Golden Eagles were never able to find a rhythm when they possessed the ball Saturday night. The rainy weather didn’t help Southern Miss, but that shouldn’t detract from how well the Mississippi State defense played.

Who’s the man: Preston Smith played like a man possessed against Southern Miss. The Bulldogs’ star defensive end batted a pass at the line of scrimmage and then intercepted it himself in the first quarter, carrying half the Southern Miss offense down the field before being brought down inside the USM 5-yard-line. In the third quarter, Smith blocked a Golden Eagles’ field goal that teammate Jay Hughes scooped up and ran to the house for a Bulldogs’ touchdown. Chris Jones may have been the Mississippi State defensive lineman with the most hype entering Saturday’s season opener, but it was Smith who had a breakout performance against the Eagles.

Key play: Prescott threw a 23-yard dime down the seam to tight end Malcolm Johnson late in the second quarter to extend the Mississippi State lead at the time to 28-0. Yes, the Bulldogs were already leading by three touchdowns at the time, but MSU’s touchdown late in the half was the final nail in the coffin for a Southern Miss team that had kept the score respectable to that point. The Bulldogs blew the game wide open in the second half, leaving no doubt who the better team was.