Kirby Smart praises Brock Bowers, Carson Beck as Georgia completes 'composure mission' beating Auburn

After Georgia came away with a 27-20 win at Auburn, trailing until early in the fourth quarter in a tense, close game the entire way. Afterward, Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart praised his team’s mettle.

Smart had said at halftime that he was impressed with Georgia’s composure and that they just needed to play a little better. They kept their edge and, when the time came, quarterback Carson Beck started finding star tight end Brock Bowers in the clutch.

“Composure mission. It’s what it was: Composure mission. This team had not been on the road. This young man had not played in this environment,” Smart said, gesturing to Beck standing to his left. “And we tried to help them. When you turn the ball over, you help people. We just kept fighting and kept bumping. I was proud of them. When you win on the road in the SEC, I don’t care who it is or where it is, it’s hard to do.”

After trailing most of the afternoon, Georgia had maneuvered into a 20-20 tie with the hosting Tigers. That’s when Beck and Bowers really started to go to work.

In the fourth quarter, Bowers had 121 receiving yards and scored a go-ahead 40-yard touchdown with fewer than three minutes to play. Bowers finished with 157 receiving yards.

Smart shared that it was a matter of time, or offensive coordinator Mike Bobo would’ve made his wrath felt for the quarterback not exploiting a look the Bulldogs were getting.

“I saw some good passes. He finally looked backside, Cover 2. I think coach Bobo was about to kill him. These two guys are special. They’ve done a great job this year,” Smart said.

For his part, Beck was never going to look anywhere else when the time came for Georgia to take a lead.

“I mean, he makes plays. They gave us some coverage, he won against his man and he just kept making play after play after play. So, of course he’s going to get the ball,” Beck said.

And, following a 27-20 win that the Bulldogs had to gut out, Bowers, Beck and Smart are happy to have successfully completed the “composure mission” that Smart described.

“It was awesome. Like Carson said, things didn’t really go the way we wanted to to start but we stayed composed and we ended up fighting through. They’re a good team. I’m so proud of our guys,” Bowers said.