NEW ORLEANS—They brought in a depleted team. Most national pundits seemed to have already counted them out. One year after laying an egg and losing to Texas in this same game, the Georgia Bulldogs jumped on the Baylor Bears early in tonight’s Sugar Bowl, holding on for a 26-14 victory.

Many considered the Bulldogs ill-prepared to play an upstart Baylor squad. The doubters were wrong, quickly made evident by a 19-0 second-quarter advantage.

“A lot of credit to Georgia,” said Baylor head coach Matt Rhule to begin his post-game press conference. “I thought obviously they made the plays they needed to make. A lot of credit to Coach [Kirby] Smart. He got his team ready to play.”

Granted, it did take the Bulldogs four offensive drives to score points. A 46-yard reception by freshman George Pickens from quarterback Jake Fromm late in the first quarter led to a Rodrigo Blankenship field goal and a 3-0 Georgia lead.

Early in the second quarter, Pickens caught a 27-yard touchdown, his team-leading eighth of the season. For the game, Pickens was extraordinary, making 12 receptions, all but one catch coming in the first half, for 175 yards (the rest of the team combined for eight receptions for 75 yards).

“[Pickens] is a really good player,” Rhule said. “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. That had been [Georgia’s] ‘M.O.’ coming into it—to get the ball to him.”

After a second Blankenship field goal, Fromm delivered to Matt Landers for a 16-yard touchdown just before halftime. While the Bulldogs moved the football with relative ease in the second quarter (199 total yards, or more than their total for the other three quarters combined), Baylor’s offense remained stagnant, as the Bears had gained just 97 total yards while being shut out entering the second half.

“I feel like when we went out there [in the first half], we weren’t having fun,” said Baylor linebacker Jordan Williams, who totaled a game-high eight tackles, including one for loss, and a pass breakup. “The first half, we weren’t having as much fun as we should have. I feel like that energy just resonates with the whole team.”

Evidently, the Bears had more “fun” in the second half, as they twice pulled within two touchdowns of Georgia. However, it was a case of too little, too late, as the Bulldogs’ second-quarter surge proved to be insurmountable for Baylor's offensive weaponry.

“I thought the first half had us reeling,” Rhule said. “The second half [we] came back and, you know, 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.”