Chip, how are you, man? Hey, Jr. How are you?
I'm very well. I was thinking that you were across the street from me at the brand new AJC building, but you're already down in Austin. No, I'm here, yeah. I've been mostly, you know, playing strings and automobiles kind of today, but I'm about to head kind of down into downtown Austin, get a little something to eat, check out the scene, but I'll tell you, between the Atlanta airport and the Austin airport, you know, it's pretty obvious there's a lot of Dawgs fans here. Yeah, there were Longhorn fans coming from Atlanta, you know, people all over the place, not to mention, you know, the Formula F1 race, which is really what has taken up most of the hotel rooms and driven up the prices around Austin this week. So it's quite a scene, and as I understand it, you know, it's going to be pretty wild in and around that stadium in the area they call Bevo Boulevard over the next couple of days. Oh, I can imagine. I have some ideas about what it's going to look like tonight, man.
Sixth Street is going to be a wild one. Let's talk about the matchup in the game. There's a lot at stake for these Georgia Bulldogs. We saw what happened against Alabama, that 41-34 loss a few weeks ago. They came back and they beat Mississippi State, but they gave up 31 points in the process. Have all the amazing Bulldogs just graduated over to the NFL? What's the deal with this team?
Yeah, I mean, you know, I have to agree with you from the standpoint, I mean, they just don't look like the dogs, certainly of 21 and 22. And, you know, maybe even last year, you know, last year's team, I think, was poised to make a championship run and obviously what happened happened in the SEC championship game and, you know, certainly validated the idea of maybe needing 12 teams for a playoff. But, you know, because you're drilling down on it and, you know, Kirby didn't even like it being brought up, you know, this week I brought it up, of course. You know, about it, it feels like there's just all the pressure on Georgia, right? They already got that loss at Tuscaloosa and certainly they comported themselves well to come back and actually take the lead in that game, but they lost at the end of the day.
A road loss, I don't think you can diminish them as a team that much, you know, losing by seven in that environment. Let me tell you, you know, I've been to Alabama and Tuscaloosa a couple times. I've never seen it quite the way it was that night. And some fans I talked to that day said it was as, you know, as on its gear of an environment as they've seen since they played, I think, LSU in 2011. So anyway, you're going to have the same type of atmosphere here and it just feels like the chips are sort of stacked against Georgia. There was nothing in that Mississippi State game that I saw that made me think, yeah, they're ready to go out there to Austin and knock off the number one team.
But, you know, as you get closer to it and you start breaking it down this way and that way, you know, I mean, it could happen that Texas certainly hadn't played a team of Georgia's pedigree yet this year. And, but it's a lot to overcome, you know, Darryl K. Royal, Texas Memorial Stadium. I understand there's going to be 105,000 people there.
That's over the 101,000 capacity the stadium was built for. So, you know, there'll be a lot to overcome. But, you know, it feels like their backs are against the wall and they'll have to play that way.
Chip Towers is joining us from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You take a look at the Longhorns. I mean, the teams, toughest teams that they've beat, Michigan and just smacking up Oklahoma.
We saw that over the weekend, 34-3. And then you allude to the Bulldogs game against Alabama where they were down 28-0 and almost came back. But do they have enough offense, you think, to hang with these Longhorns? Do the Bulldogs have enough offense to win a national championship?
Well, that's what we're going to find out. And now, listen, you know, in the preseason, there's a lot of factors here. You know, obviously, Georgia's been really decimated by the injury bug.
You can't control it. Texas has injuries. It'll everybody has injuries. But Georgia's been hit pretty hard. But in the preseason, one of the reasons that I did pick Georgia number one in my preseason eight people was I thought they did have the offense. But, you know, slowly but surely, if it's between suspensions, injuries to Kate Ratlage, injuries at the center position, injuries in the backfield, you know, it's kind of like all of Carson Beck's weapons have kind of one by one been going down.
And so, you know, that's what it'll take. But that said, I don't think we've seen the best out of Georgia by a long shot or the best by Carson Beck. And, you know, when you see him, he's kind of one of those guys that one of those quarterbacks that gets hot. And I think he got hot against Mississippi State in that second half.
He was throwing some dimes. And, you know, so it's going to take some crazy kind of effort like that. Now, the flip side of what we don't know is Texas' defense. I mean, I think you alluded to this, but I think they played, in Power Five games, they played two true freshmen and a former walk-on at the court practices. In other words, they haven't faced a Carson Beck at all, anything close to it. So, you know, so we don't know. But right now they lead the nation in defense, right?
They've been really, really good. So we'll find out, you know, if that's true or Memorex, as they used to say on Saturday. Well, let me ask you this, Chip. You talk about Carson Beck. You know, earlier before the season got started, his name was thrown around in that Heisman conversation.
Right now it is nowhere to be found. People are looking at the Dylan Gabriels, the Cam Wards, the Gentsies, the Travis Hunters of the world. Nobody's saying anything about Carson Beck. There's an expectation that when he gets drafted, he's going to be one of the first QBs at some point really off the board.
You say you don't think that the Bulldogs have kind of maxed or peaked. Is that because of Carson? And what do you think he needs to do for consistency? Is it the players around him? Yeah, I mean, I think, well, I think he's been hurt first with the players around. Listen, Ra Ra Thomas and now Colby Young are both, you know, once dismissed, once suspended.
I mean, those are major players that play the exposition, split-ins, possession guys. I understand, you know, before this stuff happened with Ra Ra, who is probably the second most explosive guy they would have on this team besides Ari and Smith right now. And not having him, you lost that, but I understand him and Carson had spent a lot of time together in the summer. But when you start talking about Carson Beck, I mean, you know, I don't know what, you know, motivates, what pushes his buttons.
I mean, I think he's immensely talented, but, you know, he's kind of hard to put your finger on as to what gets him going. And, you know, certainly there's no better time than the president, certainly not a better scenario than you're going against the number one team on the road and everybody's counting you out. So, I mean, I think he'll be supremely motivated. There's a good shot that they're going to get Jared Wilson back at center. I think that would make it, I don't think Tate Ratlage is going to come back, even though he could.
A tightrope surgery four weeks later, I think is a little too quick for that. But, you know, Kirby said this, they haven't played their best game by a long shot. So, when he was talking about goals and forgetting all the playoffs and stuff, he says, I just want to see us play our best game and we haven't done that yet. And so if they do that, you know, I don't think there's any question they can knock off the number one team, which would answer a lot of people's questions.
Wow. Well, we're going to find out about those results sooner than later over the weekend. But Chip, where do you think this team will max out at over the next several months? And do you still think they're capable of going out there and winning a national championship? Yeah, I mean, I think they are, especially in the 12-team format, but I, you know, I got to be honest with you, you know, this is definitely not the best Georgia team I've seen so far. And you know, that 2021 team, you know, had a world-class defense, but, you know, throughout the year, you really weren't thinking of them as, like, these guys could win it all.
I mean, you know, right? 22, they were, they go 15-0 and you knew they were the best team. 2021, they kind of snuck up on you. This team certainly doesn't have the defense like that. You know, they're giving up the most points a game they have since Kirby Smart's first year. So, you know, whether that's, you know, because of the players or because of the opponent, hard to tell at this point. So, I'm a little bit skeptical, you know, being honest with you, about this team being able to win it all.
But Kirby surprised us before. He's done some amazing things. His record is what it is. You realize he's going for his 100th career victory here. This would be his 100th career victory. That's pretty good for nine years at this day and age.
That's pretty impressive. So, I'm not going to count them out, but if they drop one here, you know, their backs are definitely against the wall. They're going to really give the selection committee some stuff to consider. They'd have to win out for sure, I think.
Especially if this win is anything other than, you know, a one or three point game. Yeah, well, let's see if the Bulldogs' first time underdog in 50 games, whether they can surprise us. He surprised us.
Chip, last question for you. There's a former Bulldog in the NFL. He's gotten a lot of attention over the past week playing for the Steelers. I'm talking about George Pickens. This man had his issues here in Georgia, out in Athens.
I remember that fight in 2019, and fast forward five years later, he's putting derogatory words on his eye black. What's the deal with George? You would have thought he would have, I don't know, maybe grown up over the last five years, but now he's in Pittsburgh with adults and he seems like he hasn't grown up. Yeah, you know, I'm telling you that Carson Beck is a mystery. I don't think there's anybody who has ever figured out George Pickens, you know. The first part of the George Pickens equation is just that talent, man.
It's unbelievable what his talent is, but he's a different egg. I haven't been following it closely, to be honest with you. Once these guys matriculate to the NFL, we have a regular feature called dogs in the NFL, but we don't get much into the day-to-day stuff.
I have seen the stuff that he's done here lately that's brought him into the forefront of the news. I certainly have no answers for George Pickens, but I hope George Pickens could be one of the greatest receivers in the history of the NFL, if he's focused on the job at hand. And I'll just say that, and it's always disappointing when he's doing anything other than that. Got no answers for you. Well, we'll see.
Maybe Russell Wilson, throwing him the wall will change things. Chip, thank you so much for your insight. I know you're down in Austin, this big ol' matchup between Texas, the Longhorns, and the Bulldogs of Georgia. Where can people follow you, your work, and all your coverage, everything you do for the AJC? Well, we've always got everything at AJC.com, which you can find on the internet, anywhere, and on an app. But you can follow me on C-Towers, at C-Towers AJC on Twitter.
I pretty much put everything up there with links in it and sometimes some thoughts here and there. So follow me there. Hey Chip, appreciate the time. Enjoy yourself. Have some brisket for me, please. I'm about to right now. You got it, brother.
