Not happy with postseason shortcomings, Baylor finds motivation for 2020

NEW ORLEANS — The fear was that he had injured his neck  Or even worse, his spine.

Officials halted play. Teammates dropped to their knees. Fans began to pray. Only moments earlier, the cheers, gasps and shrieks of 55,211 fans had ping-ponged throughout the New Orleans Superdome as Baylor mounted a fourth-quarter comeback against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Now, in the silence, you could’ve heard a peanut crack as a gaggle of trainers and doctors hovered over Charlie Brewer. Five minutes had passed since the Bears quarterback had absorbed a violent hit out of bounds on the Baylor sideline, and Brewer had yet to get up.

Not that it was his choice.

“Let me go!” Brewer screamed as physicians attempted to stabilize his neck. When they began testing the feeling in his extremities, Brewer insisted he was fine. “Let me go!” he demanded. “Put me back in the game!”

Brewer didn’t get his wish. He was finished for the night — and that meant Baylor was, too.

SicEm365

Charlie Brewer took a hard hit ruled a personal foul to knock him out of the Sugar Bowl with what could have been a serious neck injury.

Still, make no mistake: Brewer and his teammates earned plenty of respect with their grit and resiliency in a 26-14 loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The Bears stared down an SEC goliath—No. 5 Georgia fell one slot short of appearing in the College Football Playoffs—on a national stage and didn’t flinch.

Although it fell short of a victory, Matt Rhule’s team never appeared overmatched or overwhelmed, showing the country that their 11-2 regular season finish and ascension to No. 7 in the CFP rankings were hardly a joke.

“We proved,” safety Jordan Williams said, “that we belonged.”

While outsiders may have questioned that before Wednesday, Baylor had known it all along. That’s why players hardly took comfort in simply keeping the score respectable. Whether it was Brewer pleading to re-enter the game, safety Chris Miller finishing out his career on a presumed torn MCL or seniors shedding tears as they left the field, the Bears were adamant they could beat Georgia.

Even after falling behind 19-0 at intermission thanks to a slew of uncharacteristic mistakes.

A potential first-quarter scoring drive was thwarted when receiver Trestan Ebner tipped a catchable pass that led to a Georgia interception. The Bears committed six penalties for 55 yards prior to intermission and dropped a slew of passes. Defensively, Williams bumbled what should’ve been an easy interception, and the Bulldogs scored a few plays later.

Baylor had mustered just 97 yards by halftime, which led to a fiery speech from senior receiver Denzel Mims, who was frustrated about only having one catch.

“I can’t’ say the (exact) message because there was a lot of cussing,” Mims said. “I told them, ‘We’ve been in this situation before. We can’t let the first half disturb us. We’ve got to step up.’

“I even challenged the coaches. I said, ‘We got here off of play calls of receivers making plays down the field. We’ve got to make some changes. You’ve got to feed me. You’ve got to feed Tyquan. Fleeks, Platt, RJ. You’ve got to feed us the ball.’ I told the o-line, ‘If you just give us a little more time we’ll go out there and make plays.’”

The Bears said Mims’ passion made an impact.

“We went out there (in the second half) and had fun,” Ebner said. “We started executing. The weight was lifted off our shoulder and we just played football.”

Indeed, Baylor opened the third quarter with a touchdown when Brewer found Mims on a 12-yard pass in the corner of the end zone to make it 19-7. The Bears were driving again on their following possession before stalling on Georgia’s 46-yard line. Rhule decided to go for it on fourth-and-four, and Brewer fumbled while being sacked.

SicEm365

Matt Rhule took blame for a fourt-down attempt gone wrong, but the Bears also had an uncharacteristically bad day with unforced penalties against Georgia. 

Georgia recovered and eventually scored six plays later on a drive that included a fake field goal. It was the second successful trick of the game for the Bulldogs, who successfully executed a flea-flicker for a 46-yard gain in the first half.

“It was a bad coaching move by me,” Rhule said of the fourth-down call, “because it quickly led to points on their end. That goes on me. You can’t make bad decisions like that.”

Trailing 26-7, Baylor responded with an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Brewer’s one-yard scoring plunge that shaved the deficit to 26-14. But that’s as close as the Bears would get, as Brewer was knocked out of the game on a late hit by Georgia’s Travon Walker midway through the fourth quarter.

The initial fear was that Brewer, who was driven off the field on a golf cart, had sustained yet another concussion. He’s already suffered three during his Baylor career. But Rhule said the there was no head trauma and that the soreness was in Brewer’s neck.

Rhule said cervical spine (c-spine) tests done on Brewer were favorable and that he expects him to be OK.

“He was in the locker room with us after the game,” Ebner said of Brewer. “He looked good. He’s a tough dude. I wouldn’t put anybody in the world over Charlie. That’s my quarterback. I’m riding with him. He’s tough. That dude would die out there on the field. I know as long as we’ve got No. 12 in the game, we have a chance to win.”

Brewer’s health will be a key storyline during an offseason that could feature plenty of them. Defensive end James Lynch, the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, is trying to decide whether to enter the NFL draft. And Rhule, of course, is expected to be a candidate for several NFL jobs.

“We got closer and closer every year,” Mims said of Rhule. “I appreciate him. I look at him as a father. He really looked out for me and for the team and made sure everything was good for us. I have a lot of respect for him.

“I became a man. I’ve grown up and matured. I was lost at first. But as the years went on, I grew up and (gained) confidence and believed in myself more. It’s all because of Rhule. He believed in me and that made me believe in myself.”

SicEm365

A Charlie Brewer pass tipped by Trestan Ebner early in the game was intercepted by Georgia for one of the bigger plays in the contest. 

It’s clear Rhule has had that type of impact on a number of the Bears during his three-year tenure in Waco. Baylor went from 1-11 in 2017 to 11-3 this year. Rhule noted that 10 of the players who started on defense Wednesday and seven on offense were either full or part-time starters in 2017.

“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.

“We got to the (Big 12) Championship game and we got to the Sugar Bowl. We just weren’t able to get over the hump. We know what we have to do moving forward to get back and win games like this.”

Ebner is already looking forward to the journey.

“It was a great season,” he said, “but, to me, it wasn’t good enough. We didn’t win the games we needed to. It hurts. I’m just going to let it hurt. I’m going to make sure I remember this feeling all the way to next football season. 

“I don’t want to lose again. The team doesn’t want to lose again. We’ve got to use it as motivation. We’re not going to be back in this game. We’re going to be in the college football playoffs next year. I’ll make sure of it.”