Georgia QB Carson Beck knows how to fix his turnover problems. He just has to do it

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Carson Beck can solve a Rubix cube in about 30 seconds. His younger sister uses this as an example of what made him a good quarterback: seeing the picture, analyzing it immediately, and making the quick, right decision.

Going into the season, the Georgia football team shouldn't have to worry about that. Beck had already demonstrated his reliability, his ability to read through a defense, recognize the best place to throw and make the quick and right decision.

And yet it turned out to be this team's biggest question.

Beck knows this. He knows that a third consecutive multi-interception game, his second in a row with three of them, is unacceptable. He also knows that others might wish he would throw a helmet or kick the bench to show he cares.

“It would be stupid to say I'm not frustrated,” Beck said after Saturday's 34-20 win over Florida. “I have feelings, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes. I'm frustrated and angry.

“But what I can do to help the team and be the best leader for the team that I can be is move on and throw it in the trash.”

He meant the three interceptions, not the entire game, which is Beck's conundrum this year: He actually threw for 309 yards on Saturday. He is averaging more passing yards per game than he did last year. He has made some clutch throws this year. But his accuracy is way off: Not only has he nearly doubled his interception total in six fewer games, but his completion percentage, which was 72.4 last year, second-best in the SEC, has also dropped to 65.5 percent .

It's easy to blame the departures of Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey. That doesn't take into account the games Beck played without her last year and that Georgia has the third-most 20-yard passing plays in the SEC this year. Dillon Bell, Dominic Lovett and Arian Smith may not be first or second round picks, but they can win games, and Georgia has been.

It's easy to blame the Lamborghini, or all the things Beck did this offseason to finally enjoy the fruits of his four years of labor in Georgia waiting and earning the starting job. But there was no indication from anyone at Georgia that Beck didn't put in more work in the offseason.

This is his second year working with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Bobo. This is his second year working with Bell, Lovett, Smith and tight ends Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie. It hurts to be without outside receivers Rara Thomas (released in the summer) and Colbie Young (suspended indefinitely), but you can't blame everything on that.

It really just seems to be about spontaneous decisions that arise from a general desire to do too much.

“It’s just a matter of decision in the game,” said Beck. “There are times when it's okay to throw it away if it's not there. This is something I did much better at last year. Whether I’m just trying to play something or whether I think it has to happen every time, which it doesn’t.”

Georgia QB Carson Beck throws his second INT of the day 😬

Florida maintains the lead over No. 2 Georgia 👀

🎥 @ESPNCFBpic.twitter.com/73pE6TIKbK

– The Athlete (@TheAthletic) November 2, 2024

This is probably what Bobo is waiting for now, and has probably been for weeks. Not every throw has to go 25 yards. Not every throw has to be a completion. Aaron Murray always passed on Bobo's advice: “Don't let a bad play turn into a disaster.” There were three near-disasters Saturday, which left Georgia trailing 13-6 at halftime and leading into the fourth quarter It was tied by 20 points in a game that was expected to win comfortably.

Beck needs to get better. But two things don't happen:

1. Georgia doesn't put Beck down. There is no Arch Manning on this bench. Gunner Stockton is there and could be good one day, but Georgia is trying to win a national championship and won't turn the offense over to Stockton unless Beck gets hurt.

2. Georgia will not let up on the pass-heavy approach. There might be games where there is more running depending on the opponent, but passing is what this offense does best. Here too, the receiving weapons are fine and have no obvious weaknesses. And the coaches trust Beck, despite everything, because they saw him last year. You saw him do it this year.

Kirby Smart was asked if he was worried about two straight games with three picks each and said no.

“You throw the ball, that happens sometimes,” Smart said. “I mean, we have to try to prevent it well. But we also won the game because you throw the ball. We weren't able to run the ball in the fourth quarter. We threw the ball.”

Carson Beck makes too many panic rolls/decisions.

Now has multiple INTs in 4 of the last 5 games.

— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) November 2, 2024

Smart then pointed out that Beck makes decisions at the line, whether he's checking in on plays or certain block defenses, that people outside the team can't see.

“He has first-rate knowledge of what’s going on,” Smart said. “He gets us on the right plays and the plays work.”

The (arguably) biggest play of the game was an example: When Beck faced third-and-7 early in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 20, Beck saw that Smith was in single coverage with a young cornerback. Florida was in Cover 0, which Georgia hadn't done well against yet, but Beck believed they could do it now.

He checked in on a play where Smith was the primary option, and the result was a 34-yard completion.

“He ran a great route. He was completely open,” Beck said of Smith. “It was a great momentum play for us.”

Beck made a few other good throws. He consistently does enough in games to remind people why he was a Heisman candidate in the preseason, a guy who was considered the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

But higher expectations mean a steeper decline, and Beck is experiencing that. Georgia is an imperfect team in other areas: The defense wasn't as good as Texas on Saturday, giving up 10 points to a Florida offense with a favored walk-on quarterback from the third row. As great as it looked against Texas and Clemson and in the return against Alabama, it also looked the same when it failed (and ultimately lost) against Alabama and then prevailed against Kentucky and Florida.

Ultimately, however, much of this falls back on Beck. This is usually the case with the quarterback. If you're feeling confident about Georgia, you can watch Beck take charge on Saturday, standing in front of the media for five minutes and almost sounding like he's lying on the couch emptying his mind. But there is also a factual confidence. It's almost like he looks at his play, what he needs to do, and has already figured it out.

Whatever he should do. That's not difficult. Everyone knows what Beck needs to do to fix the problem. He just has to do it.

“We really weren’t stopped until I turned the ball over,” Beck said with a rueful laugh. “That's good for our offense and bad for me… I've always been resilient, and if the team needs me, I'll bring that.”

“Of course I will watch the film and see what I need to correct. I have to do better in the future. That’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

Photo by Carson Beck: Melina Myers / Imagn Images