After Georgia jumped out to a snoozer of a 19-0 halftime lead, Baylor announced plans to make the second half interesting by opening with an 8-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The Bears’ defense forced a three-and-out and, thanks to a Georgia personal foul, the Bears were quickly near midfield with momentum on their sideline.
Then, Matt Rhule elected to go for a 4th and 4 at the Georgia 46-yard line with 25 minutes left in the game, and Charlie Brewer was sacked. He fumbled the ball (Georgia’s Peyton Mercer) recovered it, but at that point it was irrelevant. The drive was over, and so, too, was the game.
Georgia rolled 47 yards in seven plays, scoring on a 13-yard Zamir White rush, putting the Bears back in their 19-point hole with 7:16 to play in the third quarter.
Baylor would score once more, but it was too little, too late. No. 5 Georgia avoided the same fate as last year’s meltdown, handling No. 7 Baylor, 26-14.
On a night when Georgia was without more than a dozen players, the Sugar Bowl served as an effective farewell/senior showcase for Jake Fromm, as well as a coming out party for freshman receiver George Pickens.
The pair hooked up 12 times for 175 yards, including a 46-yard flea-flicker that led to Georgia’s opening field goal and a 27-yard touchdown in the second quarter that gave Georgia complete control of the game.
Fromm put Georgia up 19-0 with a 16-yard pass to Matt Landers with 1:51 to go in the first half. If this is it for him at Georgia, he finishes 20-of-30 for 250 yards with those two scores and no interceptions. Like Pickens, fellow freshman White spurred the running game, carrying 18 times for 92 yards and a touchdown.
While Fromm perhaps closed his college career on a good note, the same could not be said for Baylor’s Charlie Brewer. He was harassed by Georgia’s front all night, going 24-of-41 for 211 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Brewer rushed for a 1-yard touchdown after Georgia went up 26-7 to pull the Bears back within 12, but another rush knocked him out of the game.
Facing a 3rd and 12 at his own 28 with 8:44 to play, Brewer scrambled toward the sideline and was hit out of bounds by Travon Walker. Though the hit was clean aside from the patch of real estate it happened to occur on, but it still sent Brewer’s head and neck snapping to the turf. Brewer received several minutes of medical attention, and eventually left the field on a cart with a towel over his head.
Considering he left Baylor’s Big 12 Championship loss with a concussion -- he told the ESPN broadcast crew he spent the following week in a dark room and doesn’t remember much of that time -- it was enough to make the viewer think they were perhaps watching Brewer’s final college game as well, though for an entirely different reason.
