Saturday Down South is chronicling Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott’s junior season as he pursues this year’s Heisman Trophy. Prescott has led the Bulldogs to a 3-0 start to the season with wins over Southern Miss, UAB and most recently South Alabama.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs opened the 2014 season with three games against much smaller, non-conference opponents, and quarterback Dak Prescott has taken advantage of the Bulldogs’ easy early-season schedule, laying the foundation for a potential Heisman campaign if he can keep up his stellar play against SEC foes.

Prescott has thrown for 200 yards and rushed for 100 yards in back-to-back games, and has thrown for four touchdowns in a game twice. He leads the team in passing, is second in rushing by just 15 yards behind Josh Robinson, and is on pace to throw for more than 2,700 yards and rush for more than 1,000 yards this season.

Prescott registered a touchdown pass, a touchdown run and a touchdown reception in a 35-3 win on the road at South Alabama last weekend, marking the second time in his career he has accomplished that feat. According to the SEC Network, only he and teammate Jameon Lewis have done it more than once in the last 10 years.

Prescott has the stats to keep him in Heisman contention at the quarter-pole of Mississippi State’s season, but the Bulldogs have not played anyone challenging enough to gauge how deserving he really is. All he has really done to this point is keep himself from falling out of contention.

However, accounting for 12 total touchdowns in three games is impressive no matter the opponents, and the nation is beginning to take notice. The Bulldogs still have all eight of their SEC contests ahead of them, five of which are against West division teams currently ranked in the top 10 in the most recent Associated Press poll. If Prescott can put up big numbers in his nine remaining games, he’ll be impossible to ignore.

Mississippi State’s toughest tests still lie ahead, and the Bulldogs will only go as far as Prescott can take them in 2014. They travel to Baton Rouge for a date with LSU in Death Valley Saturday night, providing Prescott a golden opportunity to make a statement in the Heisman race in primetime. We will know much more about how realistic his Heisman prospects are by this time next.