Georgia’s College Football Playoff path could give Carson Beck time to recover

The first 12-team College Football Playoff field is officially set after an entertaining slate of conference championship games on Saturday. Perhaps the biggest winner of the day was Georgia, who beat Texas for the second time this season and earned a first-round buy after back-to-back, grueling OT victories.

This has been a bumpy season for the Dawgs, but 11-2 with wins over Texas (twice), Tennessee, and Clemson is hard to deny. Georgia finishes with college football's second-best strength of record against its toughest schedule. I'd say that makes for a fair No. 2 seed, with only unbeaten Oregon finishing the campaign ranked higher.

UGA has strung together a few genuinely gutsy wins when it mattered most, outlasting Georgia Tech in eight overtimes and taking advantage of Texas' offensive mistakes for a huge (and unexpected) victory in the SEC title game. It did not come without a price, though, as Carson Beck injured his shoulder on a last-second Hail Mary heave in the first half of Saturday's dub.

That led to sophomore Gunner Stockton playing the entire second half. Stockton led a UGA comeback and made some clutch players, but most Georgia fans would prefer to see Beck under center when the games really start to count.

It's unclear exactly what the timeline is for Beck, who has an "upper extremity injury," per head coach Kirby Smart. UGA plans to conduct an MRI after Beck couldn't grip the football enough to throw it in the second half of Saturday's game.

Luckily for the Dawgs, their CFP schedule as the No. 2 seed could give Beck enough time to get right.

Georgia gets favorable College Football Playoff draw as Carson Beck injury looms large

Beck and the Bulldogs will get a first-round buy as the No. 2 seed and SEC champs, which is huge. A lot of folks were worried about the implications of a potential third loss in the conference championship game. Some didn't even want UGA to sneak in. That extra game — and extra win — turns out to be awfully important, although Beck obviously doesn't hurt if UGA misses the SEC title game.

So, to quote John Mulaney:

"Brush your teeth. Now, boom, orange juice. That's life."

Beck's injury puts the Dawgs in a tough spot, but winning puts UGA on an extremely friendly path — which could give Beck the necessary time to recover. There aren't any bad teams in the final 12-team field, of course, but UGA will host the winner of Notre Dame-Indiana in the Sugar Bowl. That, uh, profiles as a winnable game. Notre Dame doesn't have a single ranked win aside from Army and lost to Northern Illinois. Indiana, meanwhile, deserves more of the "fraud" conversation than SMU, in my humble opinion. The Hoosiers played a single good team — Ohio State — and were run out of the building.

UGA should win that game, whoever it is, even if Gunner Stockton ends up back under center. We are probably overrating Stockton's performance based on the outcome of Saturday's game, but he proved that he's good enough to manage the offense and put his playmakers in a position to win.

If the Bulldogs sneak past Notre Dame or Indiana, either Boise State, Penn State, or SMU will await them in the semifinals. The other side of the bracket features Oregon, Ohio State, Tennessee, Clemson, and Texas. Talk about luck of the draw.

Georgia is at a huge disadvantage if Beck is forced to miss a game (or multiple games) — there's no doubt about it. But, the path for UGA is easier than most, and it could allow the Bulldogs to stay afloat without their senior quarterback if it comes down to that.