Kirby Smart pushed back at the notion that Georgia quarterback Carson Beck wasn’t at his best against Texas.
“Our inability to catch a ball was almost comical,” Smart said bluntly.
Junior receiver Dillon Bell had drops on Georgia’s first two pass attempts. Sophomore tight end Lawson Luckie had a ball go off his hands and into the arms of a Texas defender for a Beck interception. London Humphreys and Dominic Lovett both had drops as well.
Smart believes the inconsistency in pass-catching had an impact on Beck’s performance.
“He had probably eight or nine drops, and that’s hard on a quarterback,” Smart said. “Psychologically, when you start a game and you have drops, sometimes it affects you. I’m not saying he played perfect ... I think he played pretty good. But everybody will look at stats and everybody will look at other things, and they’ll have things to say and we’ll keep on playing with Carson Beck.”
Smart pointed to two key third-down conversions that Beck picked up as positives. The first came on a third-and-12, where Beck found Arian Smith for a 21-yard gain. The conversion came right after the controversial pass interference overturn.
Right after the Smith catch, Georgia ran a flea flicker where Beck found a wide-open Oscar Delp for 43 yards. Those two pass plays set up what was Georgia’s final touchdown of the night.
Beck finished the night completing 23 of his 41 pass attempts for just 175 yards. He threw three interceptions.
It’s the third time in the past four games that Beck has multiple interceptions.
“I was just off it felt like the entire game. I think the fourth quarter, it really started to kick in for the most part, but I mean, I was just off,” Beck said. “I mean, that’s obviously really difficult. I mean, not to say that games like that are going to happen, but, you know, plays, you know, I can’t control everything. I can control what I can control and I’ve got to go back and watch a film and I’ve got to get better. I’ve got to be better for this team.
Beck was still the best quarterback in the game, with Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning under siege from the Georgia defense. Beck praised the Bulldogs defense for bailing out a poor performance from the passing offense.
“And overall as an offense, I think we can just be so much better,” Beck said. “And to see that we come on the road and win and not playing our best game, in my opinion, and being able to get out of here with a win is a huge thing and is a testament to our team.”
It’s clear now that Beck is a different quarterback this year. Replacing Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey, both now in the NFL, has proved to be difficult.
“We don’t have some of the same guys, you know what I mean? He’s carrying a lot of that burden with him,” Smart said of Beck. “I think the offensive line played really good. I thought we ran the ball well. He had a lot of drops that maybe without the drops, he doesn’t have as many interceptions.”
At the start of the season, many projected Beck to be a Heisman finalist, though he has now dropped below Miami quarterback Cam Ward, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Colorado cornerback Travis Hunter and Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik in favorites for the award, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
After the Texas win, Georgia is 6-1 on the season and 4-1 in SEC play.
“You know, I think there’s a lot of things that we can fix, that I can fix personally,” Beck said. “You know, we’re just going to move on, and we’re going to take it as a win I mean, it’s hard to win on the road in the SEC, and we’re damn happy about that.”
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