Kirby Smart on High Alert as Troubling Reality Strikes Georgia Camp Right Before Playoffs

Styles make fights, but this boxing cliche also translates to other sports. During the SEC Championship Game, perhaps an out-of-vogue style got the job done for Kirby Smart and Georgia. Adversity can lead you down paths that seem dead-ends but are the solution in actuality. That’s what happened when Bulldogs’ QB1 Carson Beck’s attempt at a Hail Mary turned into a “Jesus Christ!” An injury to Carson’s throwing arm meant the introduction of Gunner Stockton. This change under the center essentially switched up Georgia’s modus operandi. The Bulldogs’ offensive style went from a passing offense to strictly a ground-and-pound, run-centric one.

With Texas’ secondary and pass defense being their biggest strength, this nullified them. After only garnering 56 yards through the first half, Georgia managed to score on their very first drive with Stockton. As unfortunate as it was for him, Carson Beck’s injury was a watershed moment. It may have not only reformed Georgia’s traversal through to the crown for the SEC but beyond. However, one analyst thinks their apparent rejuvenation is being overrated.

During the latest iteration of College Football Power Hour, Jason Fitz bluntly claimed, “Of all the teams that are sitting on a bye, the one I’m least confident in is actually Georgia. That’s gonna get clipped off and I’m gonna get kil-ed. I’m going to dig myself into a hole here.”

“Georgia fans, all week, have been saying, ‘No, no, no, we’re better with Gunner [Stockton] than we were [with Carson Beck].’ So that means, you think your glorious head coach-that won a national championship, that is better than any other head coach- was keeping the better option on the bench? Like, come on,” he remarked.

It looks like Jason Fitz is not buying Gunner’s “Stock” just yet. This led to a bit of a face-off between Fitz and Adam Breneman, as both have polar opposite views on coach Smart and co.

Fitz thinks losing Carson Beck is a detriment to the overarching CFP picture. It was perhaps the unknown-quantity factor in tandem with the aforementioned run-centric style that led to Stockton’s success against Texas. This may not be sustainable now that teams have more film on him and know his shortcomings through the air.

Adam Breneman thinks Kirby Smart’s team is better positioned now

Breneman had a differing opinion. He stated, “As a head coach, you can’t make that change in the season even if Carson is not playing that well. He threw so many picks during that stretch, I don’t even know what it was. 12 picks in four weeks or whatever? And they didn’t make the change. It is because Carson Beck is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. When he plays well, he is going to be a first-round draft pick. Kirby Smart got a favorite here by Carson Beck’s arm dangling off and Stockton going into the game. It looked pretty darn good.”

“I do think they’re a better offense with Stockton in there, than they have been with Carson Beck,” claimed Adam Breneman, rather sensationally.

While this may seem like an indictment on Carson Beck, Breneman did say he was ‘one of the best QBs in the country’. Beck’s injury does hamper the Bulldogs, no matter how well Stockton deputizes him. He is still an experienced vet who gives Kirby Smart another dynamic.

Georgia’s triumph in the SEC Championship Game was program-defining. As hyperbolic as that sounds for a school with two national titles in the previous 3 years, it’s a fair assessment. The 2024 iteration of Georgia has been much-maligned. Not that they’re bad- they’re just not as potent as their predecessors. A large portion of this stems from the perceived downturn in offense. Kirby Smart mustered a team that lost its QB1 to injury to a win against the hottest defense in the country.

That kind of win truly defines Georgia as a team you can never count out. Unless you cut the head off this proverbial dragon, they shall not lay down and be slayed. Even with second-string Gunner Stockton poised to play, coach Smart has earned the benefit of the doubt. They’re a modern dynasty that will always be a threat to the Natty, no matter the makeup of the team, and the coach knows this.

“I’ve had more physically tough, more physically talented teams, but I don’t know that I’ve ever had a more mentally tough team,” Smart said. “They just keep coming and keep coming and they never say die. I have a lot of respect for the leaders in that room because of what they’ve been through. Probably the hardest schedule in history we’ve ever had, and they’ve endured it—they came out on top and fought their way through it.”