If you want to better understand why Georgia is widely considered as the No. 1 team in the country going into the 2024 season, look no further than its situation at the game’s most important position, quarterback. ESPN’s David Hale recently broke down the signal caller situations for every team in College Football and the Bulldogs, with Carson Beck behind center, are one of four teams in tier one, joined by Alabama, Texas, and Oregon.
While Hale has four teams in his first group, he still has questions. He names the first tier, “cream of a questionable crop.”
“Beck might be next year’s No. 1 overall pick, but he certainly wasn’t the biggest talent on his own offense last year,” Hale writes.
He’s obviously pointing to Brock Bowers, a two-time Mackey Award-winning tight end, who was picked No. 13 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders. Georgia has an impressive 42-2 record over the past three years and Bowers was the Bulldogs most dynamic offensive weapon in each of those seasons, even in 2023 when he missed three full games with a high-ankle sprain.
Hale does, however, point to one impressive piece of Beck’s game. The Georgia signal caller played some of his best ball against the best teams on the schedule in 2023, his first as the starter.
“Beck vs. ranked (at game time) opponents last season: 92.0 Total QBR, 74% completions, 13 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 10.02 yards/att,” Hale writes.
Beck stepped into a tough situation last season, replacing multi-year starter and two-time National Champion Stetson Bennett. He got off to a sluggish start but improved dramatically as the year went on. With Beck behind center, Georgia had the nation’s No. 6 passing offense at 9.4 yards per pass attempt. The Bulldogs also ranked No. 1 nationally in third-down offense and they worked their way to No. 22 nationally in touchdown percentage in the red zone by the end of the season. UGA reached the end zone in 69.14 percent of their red zone entries, its best mark since 2017.
Georgia could have had its second 4,000-yard passer in as many seasons in Beck’s first as the starter. Kirby Smart went to the bench at halftime of the Orange Bowl thrashing of Florida State, causing Beck to fall 59 yards short of becoming the second passer in school history to reach that mark.
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