Mario Cristobal throwing Carson Beck-flavored shade at Kirby Smart has people talking

Love him or hate him, Carson Beck will always have some interesting ties to two of the game's most prestigious football powers in Georgia and Miami. During the Football Writer's Association of America Dinner held in Gainesville, Florida on Monday night, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal put forth an amazing multi-part joke at Georgia head coach Kirby Smart's expense when it came to the Beck of it.

Cristobal started by saying how great it was to see Beck tap into all his potential with great coaching.

"I tell you what, it's a great piece right there to watch what a player like Carson Beck can do with great coaching."

He then said if not for what Georgia did in a pre-NIL world that we would not have NIL around today.

"If it wasn't for all his years of pre-NIL, we wouldn't have NIL right now."

Here is a clip of everything Cristobal said when he was on the stage poking fun at Georgia and Smart.

Look. These are two of the most well-respected head coaches in the game today. They once were colleagues on Nick Saban's Alabama staff over a decade ago, with Cristobal serving as his offensive line coach and Smart as the defensive coordinator. They have known each other for a very long time. However, their back-and-forth got to be a little dicey, but that is just the way it is sometimes in all this.

It is not just Saban that ties these two star coaches together, but that they both coached up Beck.

Mario Cristobal uses Carson Beck as an avenue to poke fun at Kirby Smart

Let's unpack the two parts of the punchline making Smart the butt of the joke. Beck spent his first five college football seasons at Georgia out of Jacksonville. He backed up primarily Stetson Bennett IV from 2020 to 2022 before taking over as the full-time starter in 2023. Beck won a ton of games at UGA, but never played in a playoff game for the Dawgs. He was able to do that in one year at Miami.

Cristobal hinted that Shannon Dawson is a better offensive coordinator than Mike Bobo, which he is not entirely wrong, by the way... Beck had seen everything prior to come over to Miami, so that was a huge boost for him as well. He overcame a major injury that effectively ended his run at Georgia. Beck made the most of his talent at Miami, but came up one possession short of winning the national title.

The second part of Cristobal's joke about Georgia dominating the college football world in a pre-NIL era is funny, but a bit more mean-spirited. Georgia won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022, right after NIL became a thing. This may have more to do with the inside information the guys share from working together at Alabama in a pre-COVID and NIL world under the iconic Saban.

In the end, it is good to see programs like Georgia and Miami be at the peak of their powers in the greatest sport on the planet. Having them both being perennial playoff viable and in the mix for a national championship seemingly every year now is huge for college football. In time, the Canes and the Dawgs may meet on the gridiron in a playoff game. It could have happened last year, but UGA lost.

For now, anybody who does not have both Georgia and Miami in next year's playoff field has lost it...