Following its shutout home-opening win against Southern Miss, the Mississippi State Bulldogs pulled away with a win Saturday against the UAB Blazers 47-34. Coming off the 49-0 rout in the opener, fans expected to see explosive effort from every part of the team. 
After opening with an amazing 68-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dak Prescott in the first quarter, the direction of the game started to become unclear.
 Head Coach Dan Mullen utilized both Prescott and quarterback Damian Williams by alternating between series. The offense struggled to find a rhythm after the switch at quarterback. 
The Bulldog defense held the Blazers to three points in the first quarter, but the secondary coverage began to fall apart. The Blazers racked up four passing plays of over 50 yards and three touchdowns of at least 75 yards.
“To give up over 400 yards of passing is embarrassing. That’s not what our program is built on, but we will get that fixed,” Mullen said.
 Senior defensive lineman Preston Smith continued his sharp play from a week ago. After a quarterback hurry, Smith was dropping back in coverage when he made an incredible one-handed interception, his second of the season, and returned it for a Bulldog touchdown.
“I thought he was going to launch it, but then I saw it floating in the air and it was just me and the ball and I had to catch it,” Smith said. “It was a big change of momentum when both sides are going out and scoring. We helped the offense out by giving them some points.”
 Key plays were contributed from younger players who stepped up during crucial points of the game. Sophomore tight end Gus Walley said he was more than pleased with his first career touchdown.
“It felt good,” Walley said. “I was just doing my job, but I’ve got to give credit to everybody.”
 UAB fought back against the efforts of the Bulldog defense, and Mullen said the different coaching staff helped UAB present confusion. UAB is now under the direction of Head Coach Bill Cook. Cook was a high school coaching legend before making the jump to college football.  
“We knew we were going to be in for a battle. That team that we played, UAB, they’re a different looking outfit than they were last year,” Mullen said.
Things began to improve during the second half of the game when Mullen decided to stick with one Prescott as his lone quarterback. MSU scored the first two touchdowns of the second half with a four-yard run by Prescott and 15-yard pass from Prescott to wide receiver Joe Morrow. Prescott became the first quarterback at MSU to throw for four touchdowns and run for at least 100 yards in the same game.
Mullen said he was pleased to have the opportunity to play multiple players to gain experience.
“We played a lot of guys, which is something we wanted to do and always plan to do, especially on a hot day,” he said. “It’s good to see guys step up and make plays when they have that opportunity.”
Mullen has made it a point to rotate players at every postion  early this season. Mullen said he to wants keep his players fresh for the SEC games later in the season.
The Bulldogs prepare for their first road game Saturday against South Alabama at 3 p.m.