Brewer-Led Bears Complete Comeback Against KSU, Win 32-31

If you’ve followed this blog even casually over its last nine years of life, you know that I try to prewrite my post-game posts to the greatest extent possible so that it can go up quickly after the game ends. It’s bit me in the butt a few times when things don’t play out as expected, positively or negatively, and my posts end up more abbreviated than they would otherwise be. Tonight was the former.

If I’m going to be as hard on Charlie Brewer as I have been this season and was tonight for the majority of the game, I have to give credit where it’s due. In the second half Brewer was at his best, leading what had to be the most efficient offense we’ve seen this season to date after the Bears went down 17-6. Going into halftime, we had 88 total yards, a number I know because it was in my other, now-deleted post. We finished with 420, and Brewer’s final line was 31/39 for 349 yards and 2 TDs through the air and 23 carries (including sacks, but still) for 56 yards and another 2 TDs on the ground. Baylor scored 4 TDs on offense, and he was responsible for all of them in one way or another. He was the offense in every way that mattered, and Baylor would not have won this game if he had not played as well as he did in the last thirty minutes. After failed comebacks against Texas (20-3 at one point, 27-9 at another, finished 27-16), TCU (30-0, then 33-7, finished 33-23), and ISU (Baylor initially led 24-10, then ISU went up 38-24, finished 38-31), Baylor was finally able to come out of this one with a win despite falling down 9 or more points three different times (17-6, 24-15, and 31-22). He obviously doesn’t need credit from me for that but deserves it all the same for enduring hit after hit, time after time, and lifting the team in the second half to a win in the rain on Senior Night. Watching this game is supposed to be fun, and it was in the second half thanks, in large part, to him.

Credit should also go to RJ Sneed, who blew up starting in the third quarter and made several huge plays, including one that audibly took someone’s breath away on the sideline; Trestan Ebner; the defense, which, though it gave up a ton of yards on the ground and several big plays, gave the Bears a chance to win on the final drive; and, of course, John Mayers for absolutely nailing that final kick to win it. I couldn’t be happier for guys like Ebner, John Lovett, Raleigh Texada, Brewer himself, Jared Atkinson, and a host of others that have been through so much since getting here in Rhule’s first class in 2017 (or, in Atkinson’s case, even before that). At 2-5 they clearly aren’t where they wanted to be this season, but they will, at a minimum, eclipse 2017’s win total in Aranda’s first year. Hopefully they can take the positive momentum from this game and way they feel right now in the aftermath of victory into the last two against both Oklahoma teams and finish 2020 strongly.