Jackson Free Press

Dak Prescott is 0-2 against the New York Giants but 11-01 against the rest of the NFL teams that he has faced. The Dallas Cowboys score an average of 28.5 points per game but have scored just 26 points against New York in two games.

Prescott might have played his worst game as a professional against the Giants on Dec. 11. He went 17 for 35 on passing, gaining 165 yards with one touchdown, but had the first two-interception game of his career.

The former Mississippi State University star also fumbled once, but the Cowboys were able to maintain possession. Prescott has gone three straight games without passing for 200 yards.

As a whole, the Dallas offense converted just one third down for the second game in a row. The Cowboys went one for nine on third down against the Minnesota Vikings and one for 15 on third down against the Giants.

Dallas has lost two games against the Giants by a total of four points. If the Cowboys go on a winning streak like they did after their last loss to New York, it would end in a Lombardi Trophy.

Prescott and the rest of the team must put this lost behind them quickly. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions lie ahead, and both teams are on five-game winning streaks.

With Prescott at quarterback, Dallas is going to have to live with rookie moments or games like those against the Giants. The returns have been too good to panic since Prescott has 20 touchdowns and only four interceptions in 13 NFL games.

The 11-game winning streak has given the Cowboys a cushion if Prescott continues to struggle. In the loss to the Giants, Prescott wasn’t the only one at fault, either.

Receivers dropped passes, and the offensive line struggled at times in pass protection. The Giants sacked Prescott three times and pressured him eight times during the game.

One bright spot has been the play of the Dallas defense. That unit harassed New York quarterback Eli Manning all game long and forced him into mistakes. The Cowboys’ defense finished strong against the Giants’ running game.

Dallas was undone by a 61-yard touchdown catch and run late in the third quarter from Odell Beckham Jr., which ended up giving the Giants the win. Take away that one big play, and the Cowboys win the game.

The Cowboys have another luxury other teams don’t possess in quarterback Tony Romo. If, say, Prescott hit a rookie wall, Dallas could make a change to a Pro Bowl quarterback and hope Prescott regains his magic if Romo gets hurt.

There is a real possibility that other teams are starting to get a better handle on Prescott. At this point, there are 13 game tapes on the rookie, and it is becoming easier to know what …

Labor Day just got a little more interesting.

It was already going to be an interesting evening with the University of Mississippi facing Florida State University as the last college-football game of new season’s first week.

Both teams meet for a neutral-site game in Orlando, Fla., in the 2016 Camping World Kickoff. This game is one of the most anticipated during the opening weekend of the 2016 college-football season.

There are questions surrounding both of these teams, but then again, there are questions surrounding every team this time of year. One question for the Seminoles has been answered.

FSU knows who will be starting the season opener at quarterback. The decision was made for the Seminoles when quarterback Sean Maguire broke a bone in his foot, which will require surgery and force him to miss at least four weeks.

The fifth-year senior went 4-2 last season after taking over for Everett Golson when the University of Notre Dame transfer struggled. Maguire appeared in eight games last season and threw for 1,520 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

One of the two losses from games in which Maguire started was against Clemson University, who went on to play the University of Alabama for the national championship. The other loss was to the University of Houston in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, which he played with a broken ankle.

The Seminoles must now turn to redshirt freshman Deondre Francois at quarterback. For Francois, this game is a homecoming after he left Olympia High School in Orlando to spend his senior season in Bradenton, Fla., at IMG Academy, a renowned boarding school and sports-training facility.

While Maguire was a known commodity, the Rebels will now face an unknown, at least at the college level, at quarterback. FSU is hoping to capture lightning in a bottle twice and hoping that Francois will be the second coming of Jameis Winston, the last redshirt freshman to start at quarterback for the Seminoles.

Francois will have one of the best friends a new starting quarterback can ask for, and that is a strong running game. FSU boasts running back Dalvin Cook, a Heisman Trophy contender and a threat to take any handoff he receives to the house.

Stopping Cook is the best way for the Rebels to win this game. If FSU can’t run, then it would force Francois to beat them, and UM can unleash its pass rush.

As always, it is easier said than done, and few teams have been able to stop Cook when he is fully healthy. The running back was a one-man wrecking crew even when he was banged up last season.

The Seminoles hope to have one of the best defenses in the country, and that unit will have to be good to keep Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly under wraps. Kelly will try not to get outshined by the guy making his first college-football start.