At the half before a half-empty Superdome, Georgia owns a 19-0 lead over Baylor.
Georgia is mixing in new players across its offense, and it showed in the first quarter. The Bulldogs’ first three drives covered just 14 yards and resulted in three punts, epitomized by a snap over Jake Fromm‘s head that Georgia was fortunate to recover for a 13-yard loss.
The Bulldogs’ fourth possession saw Fromm hit George Pickens for a 46-yard flea-flicker, leading to a Rodrigo Blankenship field goal and better things for the Georgia offense. In fact, Fromm and Pickens combined for 11 first-half completions for 165 yards and the game’s only touchdown, a 27-yard strike at the 12:28 mark of the second quarter.
In fact, 10 of Fromm’s first 13 completions went Pickens’ way, until Matt Landers snared a 16-yard touchdown grab with 1:51 left in the first half. (Georgia went for two after the score, unsuccessfully.) While Georgia manufactured 74 rushing yards on 21 carries, the Fromm-Pickens connection carried the offense; Fromm closed the half 14-of-19 for 190 yards.
Baylor’s offense picked up where it left off in its Big 12 Championship loss to Oklahoma.
Aside from one possession that penetrated to the Georgia 26 and ended in a tipped interception, the Bears have accomplished nothing offensively. Charlie Brewer went just 13-of-22 for 75 yards, while the running game supplemented that with 22 yards on 11 attempts. Baylor achieved seven first downs and went 3-of-8 on third down.
