Jackson Free Press

It was a great first weekend of college football, with memorable games from Thursday to Monday. Hopefully the rest of the season will be a great, as the first week has had surprising turnouts.

One interesting thing from this past weekend is that all three FBS teams from this state were involved in games that featured comebacks. Two of those teams, University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University, were on the wrong end of comebacks, and the University of Southern Mississippi stormed back from what looked like a loss to a win.

MSU looked in total control of the University of South Alabama on Saturday in the first half. The Bulldogs were up 17-0 at halftime and looked like they were going to cruise to their first win of the post-Dak Prescott era.

Then the wheels came off in the second half, as the Jaguars outscored the Bulldogs 21-3 in the second half. MSU had a chance to win the game but missed a field goal attempt that bounced off the upright in the game’s final seconds.

It was the first win over a SEC team in USA history. Before then, the team was 0-4 in tits history against the conference, with two losses against MSU in 2012 and 2014. Both teams missed two field goals, but everyone will remember the field goal MSU missed for a long time.

In the second half, the Bulldogs defense struggled to get off the field as the Jaguars had touchdown drives of 75 yards, 99 yards and 71 yards. The MSU offense stalled most of the second half, as the team could only muster 143 passing yards on the day.

Saturday night was a different story between USM and the University of Kentucky. It was the Wildcats that stormed out to a big lead of 35-10 as the game neared halftime.

USM used a late drive to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 35-17 with 22 seconds left before halftime. The Golden Eagles outscored UK in the second half 27-0 and scored 34 unanswered points, winning the game.

The win was on a night when quarterback Nick Mullens was just so-so in the pocket, as he threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns but had three interceptions. It was on the ground where USM tore away at Kentucky’s will to compete.

Southern Miss had 262 rushing yards, and the Wildcats had just 96 yards. Both Ito Smith and George Payne went more than 100 yards rushing that night.

The USM defense struggled in the first half but became the “Nasty Bunch” in second half. The Southern Miss defense forced three turnovers in the second half, including a fumble that ended any hopes for a Kentucky rally.

Southern Miss offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson got ran out of Lexington last year as the Wildcats offensive coordinator. He saw his new team put up 520 total yards against his old team, as Kentucky amassed 409 total yards.

The Mississippi Department of Insurance announced today that Ambetter from Magnolia Health has been cleared to offer individual health insurance plans through the federal health marketplace. Magnolia serves 50 counties in the state currently, but will extend its coverage to all 82 counties beginning in January 1, 2017.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney announced the news today in a press release.

"Commissioner Chaney says there will be more consumer options and price competition for counties in the Delta, as well as in Coastal counties. The decision by Chaney concerning the adequacy of AmBetter's provider network will also give consumers more choices for health care providers," the press release states. "Providers are the doctors, clinics and hospitals consumers choose to use when seeking care under a health plan."

Read about the current Obamacare coverage in Mississippi here.

Nearly everyone this preseason has gone gaga over Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s performance this NFL preseason by. Well, unless you’re Fox Sports radio personality Colin Cowherd.

Unless you’re Cowherd or thinks like he does, it is hard not to be impressed with the way Prescott has played in two games. It is the preseason, after all, but with each throw and each play, the budding legend of Dak grows.

In his first start in his first game, Prescott went 10 of 12 passing for 139 yards with two touchdown passes. The two incompletions were drops from a backup tight end against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Internet went wild, and rightly so. Prescott’s performance was great for a guy who was picked in the fourth round and expected to sit behind Kellen Moore as the third-string guy. Instead, Moore broke his leg, and Prescott was thrust into the backup spot.

It seemed right to slow down the hype train with just one game under his belt. But Prescott went on to put on a show in his second preseason game.

When Dallas played the Miami Dolphins this past weekend, Prescott got to work with both the starters and No. 2 players on the depth chart. It might have been a new week, but it was the same performance, if not better, than week one.

Prescott went 12 for 15 passing for 199 yards and two touchdown passes and ran two more in for touchdowns. In his second game, Prescott had a four-touchdown game, has yet to throw an interception and has taken just one sack.

Cowherd wasn’t impressed, but the rest of the Internet was going bonkers for Prescott. In the preseason, Prescott has gone 22 of 27 passing for 338 yards with four touchdowns passing and two touchdowns rushing.

He has an 81.5 completion percentage and a 158.3 passer rating. The former Mississippi State University star leads all rookie quarterbacks in nearly every passing stat.

Cowherd might not be impressed yet, but maybe he can be convinced if he sees the stats.

So far in the preseason, 22 quarterbacks, including Prescott, have seen some sort of playing time. Those 22 quarterbacks include the 15 that were drafted and the rest who were signed as undrafted free agents.

During the draft, seven quarterbacks were drafted ahead of Prescott, and one was drafted just four spots behind him. One of the quarterbacks, Christian Hackenberg, who the New York Jets drafted out of Pennsylvania State University, has yet to even take one snap in the preseason.

For our purposes, only quarterbacks who have attempted 20 or more attempted passes will get a full rundown. That means Cleveland Browns quarterback Cody Kessler, drafted out of the University of Southern California in the third round, doesn’t make the list with his five pass attempts.

The first overall pick …