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.
First it was Stockton, entering the game at the beginning of the second half after Beck suffered a shoulder injury on the final play of the second quarter. The senior Beck, the Bulldogs’ starter for the last two seasons and one of the winningest QBs in the nation, landed hard on his shoulder when he was sacked by the University of Texas’ Trey Moore.
As the teams headed for the locker room, Beck laid in pain on the Mercedes Benz Stadium turf, surrounded by Georgia medical staff. ABC’s cameras caught his mother in the stands, looking on in pain of her own as her son was helped to the locker room by team doctors.
At that point, Texas led 6-3 in what was a defensive struggle. The Dawgs had already struggled to move the ball and now Beck was ruled out for the rest of the game. 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 entering Saturday’s game.
The sophomore from Tiger, Georgia, was beyond ready.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the game that his team was fired up at halftime and the offense in particular was ready to rally behind the backup.
“This team never, ever says no. Never die attitude, man,” Smart said.
What had once been a lifeless Bulldogs offense sprung into life with Stockton under center, scoring a touchdown to take the lead on the first drive of the third quarter. Using both his arm and his legs, the redshirt sophomore brought the partisan Atlanta crowd to its 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 – who had been shown on the sidelines without his helmet, mingling among his teammates and looking for all the world like a man whose night was done – once 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. He stood up on his own power, though he appeared to stumble once getting to his feet.
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 that 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,” 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.”
The Bulldogs have lost a grand total of three games in the last three years. A team doesn’t get to that point without players who play their best in winning time – even if they’re unable to use all of their limbs in the biggest moments of the game or have only played in two games all season before crunch time in a championship game.
With fans and teammates celebrating around him, Stockton calmly told ESPN’s Holly Rowe how he stayed so poised in the spotlight.
“It just goes back to this love I have for everybody in the locker room and for all the seniors. I just wanted them to go out on the right way,” he said.
Smart, was clearly proud of Stockton while speaking to Rowe afterward. “This kid is a winner, man. This kid is special.”
