CFP national championship game: Miami vs. Indiana, 7:30 p.m., Monday; TV: ESPN
He believes in the plan. Doesn’t know it, but trusts it because when you’ve reached rock bottom, there’s not much left on the plate.
“God has taught me to just trust in Him,” Miami quarterback Carson Beck says.
It’s here where we begin to wonder if God has a sick sense of humor. Or maybe just saves the toughest roads for the earnest believers.
Take a deep breath, everyone, and allow this unfolding plan of the past five years to wash over you.
From getting Wally Pipp’d in 2021 as Georgia’s backup quarterback, to watching Stetson Bennett lead back-to-back national title runs. From winning his first 12 games as starter in 2023, to losing by three in the SEC championship game and watching Georgia somehow fall out of the College Football Playoff.
From playing with a patchwork offensive line and underwhelming receivers who led the nation in drops in 2024, to finding a way to reach the SEC championship game despite the problems — and sustaining a season-ending elbow injury on the last play of the first half.
From watching Gunner Stockton lead a second-half rally, win the SEC and secure a spot in the CFP, to sitting alone in his home after the season, his throwing elbow tightly bandaged after surgery, not knowing what was next.
From the freshman flop of struggling to adjust to college life, to the NIL life as a starting SEC quarterback with Armani suits and diamond watches and a Lamborghini. To Georgia fans harassing him on social media, blaming him for the end of a championship run.
The lowest of lows, to the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows again.
“I had no idea where this ride was taking me,” Beck said. “A lot of soul searching. A lot of hard truths.”
Two stood out more than any others around this time last year: He wasn’t physically ready to leave for the NFL, and wasn’t returning to Georgia. So when he looked across his living room in Jacksonville, he knew he found the next path.
There was Miami coach Mario Cristobal, explaining how close the Canes were to returning to the top of college football, and that Beck could get them there. A year later, as he went through his progressions from the Ole Miss-7 with less than 30 seconds to play in the Fiesta Bowl CFP semifinal, he finally looked left.
A clear path.
“If people only knew the depth of what he went through,” said Denny Thompson, Beck’s quarterbacks coach at Cortx Sports Performance.
None of this is easy. It may come with a seven-figure check and an unthinkable tax bracket, but it doesn’t mean life is candy and cookies.
If he thought playing at Georgia was pressure-packed, imagine playing for Miami. The big, bad Canes who, when it’s right and everything is clicking, are the biggest show in South Florida.
Bigger than the Dolphins and Heat, and the back-to-back NHL champion Panthers. Hell, bigger than Messi.
During the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal win over defending national champion Ohio State, Beck was standing on the sideline late in the fourth quarter waiting for the drive of the game to begin. A moment where Miami would take control and leave no doubt that it not only deserved a spot in the CFP — but may just win the whole thing.
Beck looked to his left and saw Ray Lewis. Yeah, that Ray Lewis. Canes legend, Super Bowl MVP and one bad man.
Beck’s dad, Chris Beck, was a linebacker at the Naval Academy, and Carson grew up dreaming of playing linebacker.
“So I look at (Lewis), and just shake his hand,” Beck said. “He introduced himself, and he’s like, ‘Go win us the ball game.’ And I was like, well, now I have to. I can’t let this dude down.”
Not unlike a week later against Ole Miss, when Miami got the ball late with a chance to tie the score or win it. No need for theatrics, just seize the moment.
“He gathered everyone around him and said we’re built for this,” said Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson. “It’s that calming leadership. He can make every throw, he’s athletic as hell. But it’s that calming affect on everyone that has changed this team this year.”
It’s all part of the plan, you know. The highs, the lows, the rock bottom.
Since the six interceptions in two losses to Louisville and SMU — the losses that started the Miami or Notre Dame CFP question — to his play over the past seven games of single-elimination football.
One loss, and the season is over. One loss, and the path changes.
If Miami beats Indiana in the CFP national championship game Monday in Miami Gardens, the Canes will have beaten the Nos. 1, 2, 6 and 7th-ranked teams in the 12-team playoff.
Nothing is more important that that, Beck says. Not the millions, not the TikTok influencer girlfriend, or $250,000 car. Not the significant injury, not blowing a chance to be the quarterback leading back-to-back national title teams, or missing a chance to play for two more.
This is his team now. This is his path.
“Everybody looks to him,” said Miami running back Mark Fletcher. “That’s our dude.”
Nine months ago, Beck was in a brace and rehabbing his surgically-repaired ulnar ligament, and this moment was as far away as that week of practice in 2021 as the projected Georgia starter — when his college career could’ve taken off but didn’t.
These are the moments that steel a resolve. Not the money, the car, or the clothes. Or the house on South Beach.
“I’m sitting there in that brace, and I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Beck said. “I had to lean on my faith more than ever.”
Hours after the Fiesta Bowl win, Beck posted to his Instagram account a photo of him crossing the goal line with the game-winning touchdown.
The caption simply read, ‘it’s just means more.”
A subtle jab at Georgia and the SEC. Or a reminder of what this strange trip and eventual path is all about.
“Things aren’t ever going to be perfect,” Beck said. “Though I might not understand what the end of all this might look like, His plan will come to fruition — no matter what it might be.”
The toughest road for the earnest believers.
This post appeared first on USA TODAY
