[Championship football can spring massive, pressure moments on the most unlikely of players at the most unlikely of moments. When their numbers came up in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship game, the University of Georgia’s Gunner Stockton and Carson Beck both answered the call in ways neither would have anticipated.
It started with Stockton, entering the game after Beck suffered a shoulder injury on the final play of the second quarter. As the teams headed for the locker room, Beck laid on the Mercedes Benz Stadium turf, surrounded by Georgia medical staff, with his mother looking on in pain.
Georgia’s hopes for another SEC championship and a bye in the first round of the College Football Playoffs now hinged on Stockton, who had thrown a grand total of 16 passes all season. But the sophomore from Tiger, Georgia, was beyond ready. Using both his arm and his legs, he brought the partisan Atlanta crowd to their feet and suddenly the Dawgs had all the momentum.
After Georgia kicked a field goal to take a 16-13 lead with just four-and-a-half minutes remaining, it looked like it was going to be up to the nasty UGA defense to hold off Quinn Ewers and the high-powered Longhorn offense. And it appeared they had done it – Daylen Evertte’s interception with 3:36 to go in the game looked like it had sealed a conference championship for Georgia.
But Stockton made his only misstep of the contest just a few plays later. On a 3rd-and-13 play from the Texas 31, the QB floated a ball that was ripe for an interception, and Texas’ Jahdae Barron picked the ball off and gave his team a chance. The Longhorns drove down the field and kicked a field goal to tie the game on the following drive, sending the game into overtime.
It was in the extra session that Beck again entered the fray. On 2nd-and-8 from the Texas 12-yard line, Stockton took off from the pocket and burst through the middle of the Longhorns defense for a first down. The quarterback appeared about to run through the arms of a Longhorn defender before Texas defensive back Andrew Mukuba closed in and delivered a devastating hit that sent Stockton’s helmet flying and dropped him to the turf, knees buckling as his body twisted and reeled from the impact.
The referees determined the hit wasn’t targeting and Mukuba stayed in the game, but Stockton could not. Because he had lost his helmet, the quarterback was forced to come out of the game for at least a play. And suddenly, all eyes turned back to Beck.
The senior quarterback was back in his helmet, practicing taking snaps under center on the sidelines. But when he ran onto the field, the extent of his situation became clear – his right arm, the one he throws with, was hanging limply by his side and bouncing with each step, a clear sign that he would not be throwing the ball.
He didn’t have to. Beck got under center and used that injured right arm to hand the ball off to running back Trevor Etienne, who burst through the line and went four yards to deliver the game-winning touchdown, handing the Dawgs a 22-19 victory.
“‘Both of them, great competitors,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said when asked about his quarterbacks. He also shouted out the big men up front who helped ensure that Beck didn’t need to run another play and Stockton didn’t need to re-enter the fray after the big hit: “How about that offensive line, to go on the five-yard line and run it in in the goal line, right into the teeth of a really, really good defense.”
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