When Carson Beck went down injured during the SEC Championship game matchup against Texas, few could have predicted he would soon have an incredible redemption story.
Beck, and many others, new his injury meant he likely played his last game as a Georgia Bulldog. Both Beck and the Georgia coaches new that their time together had come to an end. Plenty of schools lined up to take Beck out of the transfer portal but shine had worn off. Nobody could have predicted a resurgence to his career would mean he would be able to lead his new school, the Miami Hurricanes, to the College Football Playoff national championship game in just over a year later.
And yet, as Carson Beck drifted back to look for an open receiver, with his season on the line, nobody was thinking about any of that, certainly not Beck himself. In fact, as the seconds quickly ticked away, Beck was probably thinking, “damn! Nobody is open!” So he did the unthinkable and pulled off a poor man’s impersonation of Vince Young as he scampered into the end zone for the game winning touchdown.
The celebrations that erupted stretched from small pockets of South Beach to small pockets of the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. That Miami is a small school and its fan base is tiny in comparison is just fun to point out … and a small bit of payback for the 1991 Cotton Bowl.
In the aftermath of the game that many pundits are calling an “instant classic,” you know what nobody was talking about as Michael Irvin and Canes fans celebrated? Nobody was saying – ‘boy, great game but this sport is crap.’
Oh sure, there’s been plenty of talk about the brokenness of college football from fans and analysts alike – but that wasn’t what people were thinking about as the Miami and Ole Miss traded touchdowns late in the fourth quarter. All they were thinking about is who was going to win the game.
College football is alive and well and better than ever.
