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Carson Beck saw what championship quarterback play looked like in 2021 and 2022, as he watched Stetson Bennett lead Georgia to back-to-back national titles.
Beck yearned for his chance to do the same for the Bulldogs, and last season he finally got that chance. And while Georgia didn’t get its 3-peat, losing to Alabama in the SEC title game, Beck did lead the Bulldogs to a 13-1 record while throwing for a jaw-dropping 3,941 yards, 24 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions.
Rather than enter the 2024 NFL Draft, Beck returned to Athens for his senior season, with 1 more chance to win a national championship as a starting quarterback. And while the Bulldogs are ranked 2nd in the AP Poll with a 7-1 record going into Saturday’s showdown at No. 16 Ole Miss at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC, Beck’s play in 2024 could hardly be described as elite, says FOX college football analyst Joel Klatt.
Beck has 2,302 yards passing this season, not horrible, and he has 17 touchdown passes but also has 11 interceptions, already 5 more than he threw all of last season. Beck threw 3 of those interceptions in Saturday’s 34-20 victory over Florida in which Georgia struggled to put away the Gators in Jacksonville.
“What’s going on with Georgia? Carson Beck has got to stop turning the football over,” said Klatt on his podcast on Monday. “He came into the season, I’m almost certain, like, I had him as the No. 1 quarterback in the country. He’s not even close to that right now.”
Beck will get a prime chance to quiet his doubters in Saturday’s showdown, as he opposes Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, who is coming off a 6-touchdown, 0-interception gem of a performance at Arkansas.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
