Kirby Smart clearly in denial based on his Carson Beck comments following Georgia's huge loss to Ole Miss
Georgia could not do much of anything on offense in their disappointing 28-10 loss to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss on Saturday. Outside of the first drive that began on the the Ole Miss 21-yard line Georgia never found the end zone again. Despite the inconsistencies, the fumbles, and the 3.82 yards per play Kirby […]
Georgia could not do much of anything on offense in their disappointing 28-10 loss to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss on Saturday. Outside of the first drive that began on the the Ole Miss 21-yard line Georgia never found the end zone again. Despite the inconsistencies, the fumbles, and the 3.82 yards per play Kirby Smart still found a way to believe that Carson Beck is not the problem based on his post-game press conference comments. It's clear he's living in denial at this point.
When asked about Georgia's offensive struggles Smart's first response was to call out the run game, which admittedly did struggle, averaging less than two yards per carry on the game.
"Well we didn't have a run game going…I thought that their front, defensively, stunts and moves a lot so they're very disruptive. So you have to be willing to go outside. We had some outside run game. I thought Nate did a really good job. Unfortunately, he had a turnover, but he ran the ball really hard."
Georgia certainly did not "have a run game going" at any point against Ole Miss. The longest carry of any running back in the game went for just eight yards. True freshman Nate Frazier did score the first (and only) touchdown for Georgia on a diving fourth down play that looked impressive, but outside of that play the run game struggled severely.
Perhaps the failing run game contributed to Carson Beck's horrid play once again, but it's really starting to feel like Kirby Smart is just completely living in denial when it comes to his quarterback's play. When asked about Carson's struggles to settle in given his recent 11 interceptions over the past five games Smart had this to say:
"No, I thought he came out gunning and throwing. Carson [Beck] had his best week of practice. I thought Carson did some good things. He threw some play action strikes. He stepped up and made some great third down plays. I don't even know what you're referencing…I thought Carson played good, guys. I thought he played good."
Contrary to Kirby Smart's assertion on conversions, Carson Beck did not convert a single 3rd down of any distance greater than 3 yards throughout the entire game. And Beck personally converted just three 3rd downs the entire game. One on a short run. Two on passes to his primary slot wide receiver Dominic Lovett. And he didn't personally convert a third down until there was less than five minutes to go in the third quarter.
Beck may have thrown a couple "play action strikes", but actually only completed one pass of more than 20 yards in the game. And that one big play came on a busted coverage assignment on Cash Jones. Everything else was easy, quick, underneath passes, or screens because Beck simply could not do much of anything downfield. And of course, he also threw what inevitably became the game-ending interception.
Yes, the interception came on a pass deflection, but Beck's decision-making was off throughout the entire game. He fumbled the ball away twice. He averaged just six yards per pass attempt. And he almost never sensed pressure or adjusted when it came. There was seriously quite near nothing redeemable about Carson Beck's entire game of play against Ole Miss on Saturday.
Sometimes the first step in fixing a problem is admitting that you have one. Smart might need to take a good hard look at Carson Beck and completely shift how he's dealing with him moving forward. It's unclear if anything will fix Beck's horribly ineffective processing and decision-making issues that have plagued him since the Alabama game, but hopefully Smart will mix things up in the near future. If he doesn't, and Carson Beck continues his horrific play, then Georgia's 2024 season and College Football Playoff hopes might be doomed.
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