ATHENS — Nothing has happened since last season or even since last week to elevate or devalue Georgia’s Carson Beck or any of the other top quarterbacks in college football heading into the 2024 season. Yet, it seems to be a consensus among Las Vegas handicappers that Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel suddenly is better than the fifth-year senior who will pilot the Bulldogs’ offense in the coming season.
That’s according to the most recent odds released by the most popular online sports books. Beck entered the summer as the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman Trophy this year. But he has slipped marginally behind Gabriel in the latest money lines posted by FanDuel and bet265, +700 to +750 and +750 to +800. The quarterbacks currently get dead-even money from DraftKings (+800), BetMGM (+750) and Caesars (+650).
That trend also is reflected in the odds for postseason position awards posted this week by BetOnline. That group also moved Gabriel ahead of Beck – 5-1 vs. 6-1 – in its odds to claim the Davey O’Brien Award, which goes annually to the player deemed to be college football’s best quarterback.
So what happened to change the outlook?
Nothing, really. As college football approaches the one-month-to-kickoff window, it should follow that oddsmakers might want to create some “action.” As of Wednesday, there will be 31 days until the Week Zero games of Aug. 24, highlighted by Georgia Tech and FSU in Dublin.
In addition, there are some high-level quarterbacks this year, especially in the SEC.
BetOnline does a good job of illustrating that in its prop bet category for position players of the year. In addition to Gabriel and Beck as the best bets to win that award, BetOnline gives Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers 7-1 odds to win the O’Brien. Two others from the SEC, Jalen Milroe of Alabama and Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss, get 10-1 odds, while LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava are listed at 12-1. Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold and Texas A&M’s Connor Weigman are next at 25-1, and Missouri’s Brady Cook comes in at 35-1
Beck was picked as the SEC’s best in preseason voting at SEC Media Days last week. He also has been designated the best NFL prospect among quarterbacks since the end of last season. As always, such things depend on how the season breaks.
As for postseason awards, they’re often dependent on the tricky area of one’s statistical profile. LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels won last year’s Heisman on a 12th-ranked team that went 10-3. The award designed for the country’s best player doesn’t always end up in the hands of the best player on the best team.
Beck, as he told everyone at SEC Football Media Days in Dallas, is not worried about individual awards. “I like to focus on what’s actually important,” Beck said. “When you focus on the team and put other people before yourself and are selfless, it kind of takes all that outside noise and pressure off these individual awards and statistics.”
Beck has been saying and doing all the right things as he leads the Bulldogs into the 2024 campaign. At every discussion about the awards and riches that could be ahead of him at the end of this season, he deflects credit and points to the talent that will surround him at Georgia. That’s particularly important up front, where the Bulldogs once again are expected to field one of the nation’s better offensive lines.
While there are no current odds to be found, Georgia’s line is considered a favorite to contend for the Joe Moore Trophy, signifying the best group in the nation. It’s a rare unit-based award that has evaded the Bulldogs’ grasp the past three seasons.
Meanwhile, BetOnline’s suggests Beck will have an exception surrounding cast besides.
* Georgia running back Trevor Etienne, a transfer from Florida, has the best odds for taking the Doak Walker Award, at 8-1. Next in the SEC is CJ Baxter of Texas at 20-1, followed by Georgia’s Roderick Robinson and Alabama’s Justice Haynes (a former Buford High standout) at 50-1.
* Georgia’s Oscar Delp gets the third-best odds (12-1) to win the John Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end. Teammate Ben Yurosek, a transfer from Stanford, is right there with him at 20-1. Michigan’s Colston Loveland leads all tight ends at 6-1.
* As usual, the Bulldogs don’t have any receivers near the top of the Fred Biletnikoff Award list. But Georgia’s Dominic Lovett (55-1) and Dillon Bell (66-1) are on the board. Missouri’s Luther Burden leads that category at 5-1, followed by the Longhorns’ Alabama transfer, Isaiah Bond (15-1).
As for the Beck-Gabriel argument, the quarterbacks are quite different. Gabriel joins coach Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks as a transfer from Oklahoma. Gabriel (5 feet 11, 204 pounds) is built more like a running back than a quarterback. Accordingly, he has some impressive rushing numbers, with 1,093 career yards and 27 touchdowns. He has a 63.1% completion percentage for his career, which includes three seasons at UCF and two at Oklahoma. He threw for 3,660 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions last season in Norman.
Beck (6-4, 220) passed for 3,941 yards and 26 touchdowns with six interceptions last season, and carries a school-record career passing percentage of 71.2% into his final season.
By the way, he expects to be significantly better this season.
“If you go back and look at my Game 1 and then you look at Game 14, it’s not even the same quarterback,” Beck said of his play last season. “I’m excited to see what the progression from Game 15 (of his career) to whatever X-amount of games we might play (this season) is going to look like.”
