Dak Prescott’s quest to become Mississippi State’s first Heisman Trophy winner officially came to an end Monday night when this year’s finalists were revealed and Prescott was not among them.

The Bulldogs junior signal caller is still likely to be the school’s highest Heisman vote-getter in history (MSU’s best Heisman finish came from Tom “Shorty” McWilliams, who finished 10th in 1944), but he won’t be a part of this weekend’s festivities in New York City.

The news that Prescott won’t win the award shouldn’t come as a surprise; he’d fallen further and further down the Heisman straw polls since a Week 12 loss to Alabama, and did himself no favors with a second loss to Ole Miss in the Bulldogs season finale.

Nevertheless, there was still a chance Prescott would earn an invitation to New York to at least be recognized among the best players in college football, even if it was certain he wouldn’t be hoisting the trophy at the end of the night. That chance was crushed Monday night, but the same can be said for a number of other supreme talents across college football.

There are only three finalists for this year’s honor — Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, Wisconsin tailback Melvin Gordon and Alabama wideout Amari Cooper — which is half the number of finalists as last year. Prescott is joined by TCU’s Trevone Boykin and Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett among the contending quarterbacks left off this year’s ballot, and Cooper is the only player from the SEC included in this year’s field.

Prescott burst on the scene earlier this season with some video game numbers during a string of three straight wins over top 10 opponents. But his numbers leveled off in the second-half of the season, and Mississippi State closed the year with two losses in its final three games as Prescott’s once-sensational season began to look much more average.

His 14-3 touchdown to interception ratio in his first six games dropped to a 10-6 ratio in his final six games. He rushed for 100 yards four times in his first six games, but failed to do so even once in the second half of the season, and eight of his 13 rushing touchdowns were loaded into the first half of the year.

Prescott ended the season with a worse passer rating than Mariota and Barrett, with fewer passing yards than Mariota and Boykin, fewer total touchdowns than Mariota, Barrett and Boykin, and more interceptions and Mariota and Boykin.

His most significant drop was found in his team’s body of work. Mississippi State was 3-0 against ranked teams in its first six games, but just 0-2 against ranked teams in the back half of the season while Mariota, Barrett and Boykin all pursued playoff berths into the final weekend of the year (Prescott and MSU spent that final weekend watching from home).

The 2014 season was still among the best in Mississippi State’s history, and Prescott will still end the year as the school’s most accomplished player in a generation. However, his best days came too early in the season, and other stars experienced meteoric rises in the polls as Prescott hit a wall down the stretch.

With that, his dream season is just about over, and once again he’ll be watching from home while other stars shine on a monumental weekend of college football.