ATHENS – Carson Beck will undergo an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test on his right arm on Sunday. You know, if he can get one. Wink!
OK, so the Georgia Bulldogs own their machine. Don’t expect a “stat” order for those results. Sometime after noon should be fine. That’s when the College Football Playoff’s selection committee was due to release their final rankings for the 2024 postseason.
Georgia’s starting quarterback suffered an obvious injury of his right elbow on the last play of the first half of Saturday’s SEC Championship win over Texas and did not return. Third-year sophomore Gunner Stockton relieved Beck in the second half and led the Bulldogs on a spectacular come-for-behind 22-19 victory over Texas to claim the 2024 SEC Championship.
“I’m still trying to get that knowledge myself,” coach Kirby Smart said on ESPN’s CFP rankings reveal show Sunday afternoon. “He did have an MRI this morning. We should get the results the in next few hours. We had a team meeting this morning and should be finding something out here soon.”
As was demonstrated in last year’s final CFP rankings, its selection group can look harshly on a team missing its starting quarterback. Florida State was undefeated but missed the playoff after winning the ACC championship because Travis Jordan was sidelined for the postseason with an injury.
Nobody is sure the extent of Beck’s injury, but it didn’t look good Saturday. It appeared similar to one suffered by Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers last year. Ultimately, Purdy had to undergo surgery for a torn ulnar collateral ligament and was out for six months.
But Gunner Stockton emphatically answered the question that had gone unanswered the previous 14 weeks: Does Georgia have a true backup at quarterback?
It does. Stockton was 12-of-16 throwing the football for 71 yards and ran the ball eight times for another eight yards. More importantly, the offense moved with Stockton at the helm. Though, the Bulldogs came up short and settled for a chip-shot field goal, Stockton’s work on a 16-play, 72-yard drive was exemplary.
“The players believe in Gunner. They love Gunner,” Smart said. “He brought juice and passion and energy. He lives with three of four of those guys, Drew (Bobo), Oscar (Delp), some of them. It gave us an added boost of energy. They were fired up. They were trying to keep him composed. I felt the offensive staff did a good job helping Gunner out with the way they called the game. He did a good job executing.”
Here are some other things we learned. …
King Kirby
Smart’s body of work grows increasingly impressive with every passing week. With Saturday’s win, the Bulldogs’ ninth-year coach:
Improved to 53-4 over the last four years, tops in FBS.
Won a third SEC Championship in seven title games over the last eight years.
Qualified for the playoff for the fourth time in the last eight years. The Bulldogs won national championships in 2021 and ‘22.
Smart improves to 105-18 (.854) in nine seasons with the Bulldogs.
He’s also responsible for handing Texas its only two losses of the season. Georgia won 30-15 on Oct. 19 in Austin. Georgia’s now 3-4 all-time against the Longhorns.
“I have a ton of respect for their program and what Kirby has done here for seven, eight years now,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We knew it was going to take 60 minutes. I didn’t know it was going to take 60 minutes plus overtime. "
The Longhorns, in their first season in the SEC, finish 11-2 and will participate in the playoff for the second year in a row.
“We’re going to compete for a national championship. That’s where my mind is at,” Sarkisian said.
Thorson injury
Just as concerning as Beck’s injury was the one incurred by punter Brett Thorson late in the third quarter. The junior from Melbourne, Australia, appeared to have injured his right knee trying to make a tackle on a 26-yard return by Silas Bolden late in the third quarter.
Thorson was unable to return to the game and his status is currently unknown. He came in averaging 46.9 yards per punt and he averaged 53.5 yards on the day. The long return by Bolden represented a rare breakdown for Georgia’s coverage team, matching the previous long of 26 against Tennessee. Thorson famously made a big hit on that tackle.
It’s unclear who would replace Thorson if he can’t play the rest of the season. Freshman Drew Miller and junior Noah Jones are listed as backups.
The Bulldogs sent in Charlie Ham, who is primarily a place-kicker, for the only punting situation Georgia had after Thorson’s injury. But that was a well-executed fake in which up-man Drew Bobo fielded the snap and tossed it forward for Arian Smith, who was running in motion across the formation to the right. The play resulted in a 9-yard gain and a first down on fourth-and-five from Georgia’s own 30.
“He had to catch it and toss it,” Smart said of Drew, the son of offensive coordinator and former Georgia quarterback Mike Bobo. “He’ll go down in history with a higher passing percentage than his father 1-for-1. He’s a thousand percent.”
Special teams
Punting is just one area of special teams in which Georgia excelled. Place-kicker Peyton Woodring proved once again to be a major weapon for the Bulldogs. The sophomore from Lafayette, Louisiana, was good on all three of his field-goal attempts from 44, 24 and 21 yards.
Conversely, Texas kicker Bert Auburn was 3-of-5 on his kicks. His misses were from 42 yards late in the second quarter and 51 yards late in the third.
The 3-for-3 performance saw Woodring improve to 20-of-22 on placement kicks for the season, with both of his misses coming from over 50 yards into the wind. Including a PAT, Woodring had 10 points on the night, which increases his team scoring lead to 107 points.
Woodring also had four touchbacks on five kickoffs. The one return against him Saturday went for only 11 yards.
Loose balls
For the fourth consecutive game, Georgia did not lose the battle of turnover margin. In fact, the Bulldogs won it at plus-1 on Saturday. But they were quite fortunate to do so.
Georgia put the ball on the ground four times Saturday but managed to recover the ball on three of them. Two of those loose balls came with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter.
Wideout Anthony Evans fumbled at the end of a reverse at the 7-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Evans was able to recover it himself a couple of yards up the field on what ended as a five-yard gain.
Two plays later, running back Nate Frazier had the football tomahawked out of his arms by safety Andrew Mukuba at the end of a 14-yard run down to the Longhorns’ 4-yard line. Arian Smith gets credit for that recovery, and it was an impressive one.
“The guy did a great strip-out,” Smart said. Arian like a missile dove in between two of their players and recovered it.”
Georgia had to settle for a field goal on the drive. But the primary damage done was the Bulldogs kept the ball for 9:22 on the 16-play, 72-yard drive managed by Stockton.
Penalty disparity
One of the primary differences in the game Saturday was the Longhorns were flagged for twice as many penalties for twice as many yards as Georgia. Texas finished with 11 for 94 yards compared to Georgia’s 5 for 49.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian pointed out that disparity in a brief, terse interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe as the teams were leaving the field at halftime.
“Hopefully, they’ll call them for holding one of these times, too,” he said, abruptly leaving the interview.
The Longhorns were flagged twice for holding in the opening 30 minutes. Many of the flags against them were for personal fouls, two of which were negated due to offsetting fouls. Texas was assessed six penalties for 50 yards in the second quarter alone.
