The narrative has been beaten into the ground by now, but the state of Mississippi had a banner year on the gridiron in 2014, especially in the SEC.

Mississippi State enjoyed the emergence of Dak Prescott on its way to a 10-win season and a five-week stint as the No. 1 team in America.

Ole Miss relied on the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense to upset Alabama, win the Egg Bowl and reach a New Year’s Six Bowl.

Even Southern Miss of Conference USA tripled its win total from the previous two seasons combined with a 3-9 record last fall, and East Mississippi Community College won its third junior college national title in four years.

Football in the Magnolia State thrived in 2014, which begs the question: Which of these teams can continue the positive trend in 2015?

Let’s focus our answer to this question on the two SEC schools from the state. Both have been at it for more than a century, but never have both schools experienced such success at the same time. And, to be frank, it’s been quite a while since either school was able to sustain this kind of success for more than one year.

But in the modern era of college football, any program to strike it rich can maintain its prominence with more ease than ever before. It’s not easy, just easier, and the SEC affiliations both teams enjoy and the heap of money that comes with it, mixed with the added exposure both universities received last year, could lead to more success down the line.

So who is more likely to continue its run of success this fall? That would be the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

College football has recently begun following in the footsteps of pro football in evolving into a pass-happy game where winning is heavily dependent on quarterback play. Thus, with Dak Prescott returning for his senior season with plenty of experience and one more offseason to grow and develop, he should be able to lead Mississippi State to greater heights than Chad Kelly, Ryan Buchanan or Devante Kincade can at Ole Miss.

Prescott is already an established star among the college ranks, better than 99 percent of college quarterbacks in 2015. Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston may be departing, but there will also be new emerging stars in 2015 who pattern Prescott’s rise in 2014.

If he returns to school and merely plays as well as he did last year with no evolution in his game, he’d still be one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the nation. But if he spends the offseason working with Dan Mullen’s staff, known for developing much lesser talents than Prescott into productive starters, he could be the single best quarterback in the nation.

Considering his top wideout, De’Runnya Wilson, is back as well, and considering Mullen’s offenses never fail to produce a 1,000-yard tailback, Prescott should be able to lead a pretty stout offense. Yes Mississippi State lost a ton of starters off last year’s team, but they returned the most important one.

Ole Miss lost a good number of starters as well, and while the legendary 2013 recruiting class will now enter its third year on campus, leading to lofty expectations for players like Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil and Laquon Treadwell who are expected to go pro next spring, it lacks a proven difference-maker at the most important position on the field.

However, there’s a chance both teams maintain their standing near the top of the SEC West. But in a division loaded with talent that only got better after placing seven recruiting classes in the top 25 in the nation, Ole Miss and MSU both lost more talent than most of their divisional counterparts.

So if either is to repeat its magical 2014 run, which will already be more difficult in that neither program will catch anyone by surprise, it will be the team with perhaps the most talented star returning at any position in the SEC: Prescott and the Bulldogs.