Georgia football is just a few days removed from their heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, and there has been one debate running rampant among UGA fans. And that is if Carson Beck would have made a difference in this game and potentially led Georgia to victory.
As everyone knows, Beck was not available for the Sugar Bowl as he suffered a season ending injury against Texas in the SEC Championship game. That meant backup Gunner Stockton made the first start of his career, but he was unable to lead the Bulldogs to victory. But would the result of the game have been any different had Beck played?
Former Georgia standout wide receiver Tavarres King offered his opinion.
"I think they (Notre Dame) won the game," said King via atozsports.com. "They played at a high level, they coached at a high level....we weren't playing at a high level. In my opinion, I think they went out and did what they needed to do to win the game.”
"But yeah, obviously, we gave them some things. I don't think if Carson Beck would've been the quarterback we would've won the game. I don't think that would've changed anything because guys around Gunner needed to help him. And they didn't. That's been a common theme of this year's Georgia team. Guys not stepping up when they need to.”
Georgia did not play well enough as a team
King feels that Georgia still would have lost to Notre Dame had Beck played instead of Stockton. His main reason for feeling this way is because the rest of the team did not play well enough around Stockton, and it's hard to disagree with that.
Georgia's offensive line played one of their worst games of the season, the offense only totaled 66 rush yards, the receivers continued to drop the ball, and Georgia's special teams gave up a touchdown. All four of those things would not have changed had Beck been able to play, and it's unlikely Beck would have been able to overcome all of those issues on his own.
So while Georgia maybe would have stood a slightly better chance with Beck under center, his presence likely would not have changed the outcome of the game. So at the end of the day, maybe it's a good thing that Stockton played instead so he could have this experience on the biggest stage in college football before potentially taking over as the full time starter next season.