Aside from the fact that college football teams play only 12 games and every one of them is important, Baylor’s game at Kansas on Saturday didn’t really seem to matter. Matt Rhule‘s team has already booked its ticket to the Big 12 Championship, the Bears began the week locked out of the College Football Playoff race at No. 14, and their chance at playing in the Sugar Bowl seemed to ride on whether or not they beat Oklahoma in the title game (thus taking the league’s automatic bid) or whether the Sooners reached the Playoff and Baylor took their place by default -- not whether or not they beat Kansas.
But then Tuesday night happened. The Bears leaped from No. 14 all the way to No. 9, and now, all of a sudden, the Bears are in this thing.
Not that they ever wouldn’t try to beat Kansas, but now they really need to beat Kansas. Which is why it’s a good thing Charlie Brewer is “ready to go,” in Rhule’s words.
Matt Rhule said QB Charlie Brewer (ankle) practiced well today. They've given a lot of reps to Gerry Bohanon and Jacob Zeno just in case, but: "Charlie's ready to go." #Baylor
— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) November 27, 2019
Brewer, Baylor’s junior quarterback who has thrown for 2,753 yards with 19 touchdowns while rushing for 351 yards and 10 scores, left last week’s win over Texas with what appeared to be a blow to the head, but was actually a rolled ankle.
Either way, Brewer is expected to start on Saturday, and Tuesday night’s ranking ended any talk of holding him out as a precaution (such that any talk even existed outside of the Internet in the first place.)
Best case scenario for Baylor is that Brewer leads the Bears to a big halftime lead and backups Gerry Bohanon (17 passes this season) and Jacob Zeno (zero) get plenty of action anyway.
