Carson Beck’s season has had some good moments, such as his hot start during Georgia football’s first two games. Throwing a combined seven touchdowns, Beck steered the Bulldogs to blowout wins over Clemson and Tennessee Tech. However, his campaign has had its lows as well. A surge of mid-season interceptions smeared his draft stock, and this was exacerbated during consecutive games against Texas and Florida, where Beck committed three turnovers each.
While Georgia did manage to emerge victorious in both games, it raised concerns about how the team might perform if they manage to earn a CFP spot (which is highly possible, given the current circumstances). Having a turnover-prone signal-caller isn’t ideal against the nation’s best, so it’s only natural that fans in Athens were worried.
Nevertheless, Beck seems to have found his footing toward the season’s tail-end. He hasn’t been picked off through Georgia’s last three games, and the team emerged victorious in those outings to end their regular season with a 10-2 record. This, in turn, is a good sign ahead of the much-awaited SEC title game.
Facing the Bulldogs at the Mercedes Benz Stadium on Saturday is none other than Texas football (11-1), who are no doubt eager for revenge. The Longhorns currently hold the top spot in the SEC, and in fact, their only defeat of the season was against Georgia.
How will Carson Beck fare in this rematch? To answer that, here are bold predictions for the fourth-year senior.
Carson Beck overcomes the Texas defense, throws for no less than 250 yards and two touchdowns
Look, some people may doubt or even contest this take, and they have good reason to do so. For starters, Texas is the SEC’s best defensive team. The Longhorns allow just 247.5 total opponent yards and 143.7 opponent passing yards per game, via ESPN. Add in how Beck was picked off three times by the Texas secondary back in October and the odds of him having a good game become even more questionable.
Nevertheless, there are a couple of factors why Beck will show up this time around. First, take into account his recent performances. It was mentioned earlier that Georgia managed to win their last three regular-season games with Beck throwing zero interceptions. Through that same span, Beck also amassed 11 touchdowns and 941 total yards, averaging a 165.2 passer rating.
And these weren’t just run-of-the-mill opponents. Georgia’s third to the last regular season game was against Tennessee, who sit behind Texas as the conference’s second-best defensive team. How did Carson Beck perform against a Vols squad that allows foes just 178.7 passing yards per game? He almost reached 350 yards. In front of a cheering Sanford Stadium, the Bulldogs’ QB1 stepped up in the absence of star running back Trevor Etienne. He continuously carved up the defense, throwing for 347 yards and two touchdowns while running for another score on the ground.
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Fast forward two weeks later to the “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate” rivalry game against Georgia State and Beck threw for nearly 300 yards and five touchdowns to lead Georgia to a historic 8OT comeback victory.
Besides the strong momentum from the recent games, one can also factor in how the Texas defense won’t be centering all their attention on Beck. How so? Georgia isn’t really known to have a high-yardage run game, but their top running backs — Trevor Etienne and Nate Frazier — are capable of causing damage. When the Bulldogs bested the Longhorns in October, Etienne was the man of the night, tallying three touchdowns on the ground. This alone shows how Texas will be more wary of him on Saturday. Frazier will certainly get his fair share of carries as well. When Etienne was sidelined with an injury toward the end of the regular season, Frazier stepped up big, as seen by his 136-rushing yard, three-touchdown outing against Massachusets.
Final notes
Of course, for Carson Beck to put on a strong showing on Saturday, it’s going to take a full team effort. His pass-catchers have to outmatch Texas’ stingy DBs, namely Jahdae Barron, Andrew Mukuba, and Michael Taafe. Furthermore, the O-line has to make sure that linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. — who previously had a sack against Beck — and other Longhorns rushers won’t have the upper hand in the trenches. If everything goes well, then fans might just see Beck holding up the SEC Championship trophy by the end of it all.
