Written by Garin Turner
The Allstate Sugar Bowl welcomes # 5 Georgia and #15 Texas to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on January 1 with a kickoff time scheduled for 8:45 EST on ESPN. This is the 14th match up between the Big 12 and the SEC in the Sugar Bowl. The Longhorns have an overall bowl record of 28-24-2, while the Bulldogs 30-19-3 in its 54 bowl games.
Georgia comes into the game 11-2 and missed playing in the College Football Playoffs despite a good showing against Alabama. Georgia started off the season scoring 40 plus points in five out of its first six games including four straight. They played five ranked teams this season and went 4-2 in those games. Defeating South Carolina (24th at the time), Florida (9th at the time), Kentucky (9th at the time), and Auburn (24th at the time). They had a brutal stretch where they played four ranked teams in a row. It’s two losses came to LSU (13th at the time) and to the defending national champions Alabama (ranked #1).
Jake Fromm is 186/272 for 2,537 yards and 27 touchdowns. D’Andre Swift has 1,037 yards on the ground with 10 touchdowns. Elijah Holyfield has 956 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground as well. The Bulldogs are only giving up 18.5 points a game on defense while averaging 478.8 yards on offense and 39.2 points a game.
The Longhorns didn’t start the season out the way they planned when they lost to Maryland in the opener 34-29 but they quickly turned things around winning six straight including victories over USC (ranked 22nd at the time), TCU (ranked 17th at the time), and Oklahoma (ranked 7th at the time). They did drop the rematch to Oklahoma but to hold a victory over a College Football Playoff team is no small feat.
Sam Ehlinger is 256/398 for 3,123 yards and 25 touchdowns. Tre Watson and Keaontay Ingram have near identical numbers on the season running the ball for the Longhorns. Watson has 695 yards on 167 carries and three touchdowns. Ingram has 683 yards on 133 carries with three touchdowns. Lil’Jordan Humphrey has 79 receptions for 1109 yards and nine touchdowns.
