Kirby Smart eager to find out how Carson Beck handles first SEC road start

This weekend, the Georgia Bulldogs will travel to Auburn to renew the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry against the Tigers. For Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, it will be his first road test as a starting quarterback in the SEC.

Ahead of that road trip, head coach Kirby Smart shared his thoughts on Carson Beck getting his first SEC road start.

“I think that’s something that we’re gonna find out,” Kirby Smart said. “I don’t think you know. I think he’s been through some ups and downs. He’s certainly been against good defenses like Auburn has — he goes against our guys.”

This won’t be Carson Beck’s first SEC game as the starting quarterback at Georgia. He did have the South Carolina game, which saw the Bulldogs start slow and trail 14-3 at the half. In the second half, the Bulldogs’ offense responded and won the game on the back of 21 unanswered points. Besides that, Beck has not started a game outside of Athens to start the season.

Despite that, Beck does have plenty of experience in Georgia’s system. He’s been with the program since the 2020 season. Prior to becoming the starter in 2023, Beck played in 11 games, including the national championship game against TCU.

“So, it’s different when it’s live. So, you’ve got to find out how he responds to that and I’m very confident in Carson’s ability to communicate, to understand things. He’s been in our system,” Kirby Smart said. “You only get good at these situational football things by playing football for a long time, and he’s been with us for a while doing it. It’s his first chance to do it on the road.”

Through four games in 2023, Carson Beck has 1,184 passing yards and six touchdown passes. However, analyst David Pollack warned against overreacting to his start.

“I’m not overreacting by any stretch. Listen, like, if you saw Stetson Bennett three starts in? You’d be like, ‘Hmm?’. I’m sorry – if you saw Stetson Bennett 10 starts in? Georgia fans were still complaining,” Pollack said.

“I think that the new system is a real thing, it’s a real deal. Like, learning that? If you remember, Carson Beck actually played with [Todd] Monken’s son in high school. His relationship with Monken went way back and he probably was more familiar with the old offense than the new offense.”

Carson Beck admitted the offense is still looking for an identity

After beating UAB, Carson Beck admitted that Georgia is still looking for its offensive identity this season.

“Yeah absolutely, we obviously have a far ways to go,” Beck said. “We’re still trying to find our identity and what that is, but I think that we’re picking up steam and we’re starting to build chemistry and just figuring out who we are as an offense.”