When Georgia looks in the mirror, it should see its blemishes.

It should see that a run defense that entered the day ranked just No. 49 in FBS in yards per carry allowed, and then proceeded to allow a 1-dimensional Auburn offense to run for 219 yards.

It should see that in 2 first halves against Power 5 competition as a multi-touchdown favorite, it totaled just 13 points on 9 offensive drives.

It should see that while it has a quarterback who is a veteran in age, Carson Beck is a long way from showing that he’s as poised as his predecessor.

But amid those blemishes that could impact the Dawgs’ pursuit of the first college football 3-peat in 87 years, there’s something else that UGA should see. It’s something everyone should see every time UGA snaps the football.

That Brock Bowers guy? He’s as good as we’ve ever seen at the tight end position.

We were reminded of that in the closing moments on Saturday at Jordan-Hare. It was a vintage Bowers play that gave UGA a 27-20 lead, and ultimately a victory against a pesky Auburn squad. Bowers hauled in a downfield pass over the middle, he shook off a pair of Auburn defenders and beat another to the end zone to give the Dawgs the victory.

That play went for 40 yards, which gave him 148 yards … in the second half. That’s the most Bowers ever had in a half. He finished the day with 8 catches for 157 yards on 14 targets. He had 79 (!) yards after the catch.

Those numbers didn’t even include the 15 yards that came from a 1-handed grab that was wiped off the board because of an illegal formation. It was actually the second consecutive play in which Bowers only needed 1 hand to haul in a pass from Beck.

That’s just not fair. Three years into his college career, there’s not a matchup or a defensive scheme that makes sense against Bowers in coverage.

Of course Beck saw Bowers in those tense moments (he also saw Ladd McConkey 3 different times for 3rd-down conversion in his first game of the season after a back injury held him out Weeks 1-4). Why wouldn’t Beck or anyone else see Bowers? Isn’t he the 2022 Mackey Award winner ultimate equalizer?

Yes, but it was fair to ask that question at times this year. Shoot, in the first half, Bowers only had 2 catches for 9 yards. At times, it hasn’t looked like Georgia OC Mike Bobo has designed enough looks for the superstar tight end. How else can you explain Bowers totaling just 13 catches for 135 yards and 0 receiving touchdowns through the first 3 weeks?

To be fair, Bowers was working through a groin injury early on. It’s possible that limited him. It certainly didn’t limit his snap count, which was at 53.3 per game through Weeks 1-4 with at least 34 snaps each time he stepped on the field.

And even when Bowers was being targeted, the lack of downfield opportunities was evident. Entering Week 5, Bowers had just 3 catches of 20 yards. For most tight ends, that’s not a big deal. For Bowers, who had 17 such grabs last season, it was a big deal. Before Auburn, his chunk plays were more, uh, “man-made.”

You know, just in case you needed a reminder of what Bowers was capable of in space. We got plenty of those in the second half on Saturday.

Weirdly, it almost felt like when Bowers flipped it into overdrive down the stretch in the 2021 SEC Championship. He was unstoppable against Alabama’s defense, and he seemed like he was more than willing to try and put the team on his back … as a freshman tight end.

That, though, was in a losing effort. As in, Georgia’s last losing effort a whopping 665 days ago. Since then? All Georgia did was win 2 national titles, and start a pursuit of a 3rd by going 5-0. You could argue that Bowers was the best player who stepped on the field during that entire run.

What gets lost in the shuffle of Bowers’ brilliance is that it’s not even just the things he does with the football in his hands. What he does as a blocker is why he never leaves the field.

When Daijun Edwards scooted into the end zone and gave Georgia a game-tying touchdown in the second half to quiet the Jordan-Hare crowd, who sealed off the edge? Bowers. He’s done that countless times. His willingness to block is the ultimate trump card any time the subject of “college football tight end G.O.A.T.” is discussed.

Bowers is firmly in that conversation. How could he not be? That argument is still probably a subjective one, but what if Bowers is the best player on a flawed Georgia team en route to a 3-peat? As in, all that man knows in his college career is being the best player on 3 national championship teams. That legacy would be untouchable.

Georgia has a long way to go to get there. If this 2-0 start to SEC play has been any indication, Bowers is going to need to do a whole lot more heavy lifting. At least until Beck settles in a bit more — he looked like he grew up a lot on Saturday — and this run defense shows that it can rise above mediocrity.

But until then, there’s nobody better for blemish-filled Georgia to have in these ugly games than No. 19.