By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            NEW ORLEANS – Outside the Baylor locker room, there were few if any people that thought the Bears would make it to the Superdome this year and play in the New Year's Day Sugar Bowl. 
            And there were probably even fewer that gave Baylor any chance of making a run at fifth-ranked Georgia after being shut out in the first half and trailing 19-0. 
            Instead of throwing in the towel, though, the Bears had a spirited second-half comeback with two third-quarter touchdowns and twice had the ball in the final quarter with a chance to make this a one-score game. 
            Ultimately, the Bulldogs (12-2) had enough to hold off the rally and survived for a 26-14 win before a crowd of 55,211 that left Baylor (11-3) short of that elusive school-record 12^th win. 
            "I was proud of our team in the second half," said third-year head coach Matt Rhule, who led the Bears to their first Big 12 Championship game appearance and an 11-win season just two years after going 1-11. "I thought the first half had us reeling. The second half, they came back and fought to get back in the game, maybe had a chance. But, credit to Georgia. They made the plays they had to make and came away with the win."
            Junior quarterback Charlie Brewer, who's made a habit of dramatic fourth-quarter comebacks, threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Denzel Mims on the opening drive of the second half and added a one-yard QB keeper that pulled the Bears within 26-14 with 4:10 left in the third quarter. 
            But, he was knocked out of the game and carted off the field after taking a vicious sideline hit from Georgia defensive lineman Travon Walker with 8:52 left in the game. In the postgame press conference, Rhule said the medical staff had cleared Brewer of any neck injury, the initial concern, and he wasn't demonstrating any concussion symptoms. 
            "I'm sure they'll continue to monitor him after this, throughout the night, just to make sure," Rhule said of Brewer, who had to leave the Big 12 Championship game after a helmet-to-helmet hit in the first half. "But, there was some concern about his neck and took him off and cleared him from that."
            Brewer bounced back from a frustrating first half for the offense to complete 24-of-41 for 211 yards and one touchdown and also scored his 11^th rushing TD of the season and 18^th of his career. That one rushing touchdown matched the total Georgia's defense had given up all season. 
            "Charlie's just a competitor, he's a winner, he's tough," Rhule said. "But, he's just one of the guys, too. He's just a great guy. He can win all the awards and never make it about him. He's just a great, great teammate."
            Georgia, trying to avenge a 28-21 loss to Texas in last year's Sugar Bowl, overcame a sluggish start and kick-started its offense with a 46-yard flea-flicker pass from Jake Fromm to freshman receiver George Pickens. Voted the Sugar Bowl MVP, Pickens had a career-high 12 catches for 175 yards and one touchdown after coming in with just 37 catches for the season.  
            That set up a 24-yard field goal by Lou Groza Award winner Rodrigo Blankenship that gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead with 49 seconds left in the first quarter.
            "They got us on the flea flicker . . . I'm not sure exactly how they did it, but hard, hard play-action," Rhule said. "That spooked us out of some of our stuff, gave them some free-access plays. He's a really good player. When we left him one-on-one, he made the plays. When we played off him a little bit, they threw it out there and he made guys miss."
            In the second quarter alone, Pickens hauled in seven passes for 102 yards, including a 27-yard TD strike from Fromm that made it 10-0. After another chip-shot field goal by Blankenship, Fromm found Matt Landers for 16 yards to give the Bulldogs a 19-0 lead heading into the locker room after piling up 272 yards offense. 
            "I felt like we went out there, we weren't having fun," said senior linebacker Jordan Williams. "We're here, we've worked so hard to be here. We play good defense when we have fun. I feel like that energy just resonates with the whole team. The message was don't worry about it, just work, just keep having fun, enjoy this last moment with your brothers."
            Junior All-American defensive end James Lynch said the Bears were "just trying to do too much individually" in the first half. 
            "Me or anybody else, just trying to make a play instead of doing our job," said Lynch, who had one of the team's three second-half sacks to finish the season with a school-record 13.5 sacks for the season and 22.0 for his career. "Once we settled down, in the second half, obviously, we played a lot better."
            Any thoughts of the Bears just mailing it in for the second half were quickly put to rest with an impressive eight-play, 75-yard drive by the offense to put Baylor's first points on the boards. 
            Mims, held to just one catch in the first half, had three for 60 on the drive and ended it with a 12-yard TD grab in front of cornerback Eric Stokes. 
            "I knew that it was really up to me to make the plays," said Mims, who finished with four catches for 68 yards to post his second 1,000-yard season in three years (1,020) and record his 28^th career TD reception.
            "I knew that I had to get them going and I had to make some plays, and I really didn't make any plays in the first half. I talked to them and I talked to the staff and said, 'Y'all have to get me the ball.' We came out, and they gave me the ball. That's really what it was."
            After a three-and-out by the defense, Baylor had the ball near midfield when Rhule opted to go for it on fourth-and-four from the Bulldogs' 46. Blitzing linebacker Azeez Ojulari came up with a sack and forced fumble that gave Georgia the ball back in great field position. 
            Seven plays later, redshirt freshman running back Zamir White scored from 13 yards out after a successful fake field goal that pushed the lead back to 26-7. 
            "I really, really regret my decision to go for it on the one fourth down, crossing the 50," Rhule said. "That was a bad coaching move by me. It just quickly led to points on their end. That goes on me."
            Charlie Clutch answered on Baylor's next series, hooking up with Tyquan Thornton for 17 yards and Trestan Ebner for 24 and then taking it over himself on a third-and-goal from the 1 to make it a two-score game, 26-14, with 4:10 left in the third. 
            "I thought it was kind of like the tale of our season," Rhule said. "We get a little momentum going, we become pretty good. It certainly happened on that drive and maybe one or two others."
            Shut out in the first half, the Bears came back to produce 198 yards in the second half and actually finished with more first downs than Georgia, 21-19. 
            Fromm threw for 250 yards and a pair of TD passes, while White rushed for 92 yards on 18 carries filling in for injured All-SEC running back D'Andre Swift. 
            For the third time in seven years, Baylor came up a bowl win short of a school-record 12^th victory. The Bears were 1-11 just two years ago and capped a 7-6 season last year with a Texas Bowl victory over Vanderbilt. 
            "I told these guys, I'm so grateful for what they've done," Rhule said. "I know tonight hurts, I know it's painful for our guys, but they can't let that deter what they've done this season. . . . I'm very, very proud of what we did this year. Very grateful to (linebacker Jordan Williams and offensive lineman Sam Tecklenburg) and for our seniors for what they've done."