It’s not a good time to be a Dawgs fan. With that SEC title win, Kirby Smart and his boys got a much-needed bye-week to prep for their game against Notre Dame (We won’t even bring IU into the equation because we all knew how the game would end). See, now, Kirby Smart’s wonderboy Carson Beck had some problems. Much like Quinn Ewers or Jalen Milroe, Beck had his ups and downs too. In the title game, Beck barely covered around 71 yards, resulting in a turnover through an interception. Running so hot and cold this season, Kirby Smart decided to opt for a much more grounded offensive approach.

And well, they were surviving against the grueling Texas defense and offense. But then the worst thing happened. Trailing 6-3, Beck went for a Hail Mary but was hit pretty badly by a Texas rusher. One twist and he couldn’t throw anymore. With the Notre Dame game on the horizon, his availability for the semi is still a big question mark. But now Dawgs Punter Brett Thorson and OL Tate Ratledge have cleared the air about who is finally taking up the QB help. “We had a pretty prominent injury happen,” Ratledge pointed out. “We lost a quarterback,” Thorson added. Beck is out, and pretty sure a lot of Bulldogs fans would’ve speculated it by now.

It’s kind of weird that Kirby Smart is still playing this a bit politically. Back on the official release by DawgNation, Smart mentioned, “We’ve communicated with him, and we’re hoping for the best.” Losing Beck is a big deal. We do agree that Beck has had problems. He has given out 12 picks to the defense and all of them came from just 5 games. But then again, he was the only one who pushed Georgia up the playoff ladder.

This injury, paired with the fact that Georgia’s receiving corp has been extremely drop-prone, does not paint the right picture for the Notre Dame showdown. Maybe Kirby Smart could pull through using the same grounded offense he used during the Texas game, but will it even work against one of the best defenses in the country?

In the IU vs Irish game, Marcus Freeman‘s defense did show their reputed “organized chaos”. Curt Cignetti and Co. got stopped at 278 yards total. This is the 2nd lowest number their offense has managed to collect this entire season. The entire running corps game was stopped at a measly 63 yards. So if you cannot run the football because your receivers have been drop-prone, and you lost your starting quarterback, who excelled at landing deep shots, as Kirby Smart, who do you even rely on now?

Gunner Stockton is the answer

Now, we are not saying Gunner Stockton is an automatic win for Georgia. However, we will point out that this does give Smart and the Dawgs some pulse. Thorson points out, “Gunner, he’s gonna come in.” 

When Smart lost Beck, Gunner dropped in, and although he there in an interception and was sacked by the Longhorns’ defense, he pushed the offense close enough to the endzone for Beck to come in for one final time to hand over the football to Trevor Etienne for a 4-yard touchdown win in overtime.

Only 3 games under his belt with just 206 yards, but then Smart has had enough time to prep Gunner for the semi-final game. We will say that without Carson Beck, Georgia, going to the natty feels like a distant dream.

However, the Dawgs have the home-field advantage, and every die-hard fan knows they will not throw that out the window.