Georgia Football: 3 reasons to watch 2019 Sugar Bowl vs. Texas

2. Two unheralded and outstanding QBs face off

All season long Georgia’s Jake Fromm and Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, both sensational sophomores, have been overshadowed by a pair of Heisman finalists in their conference. Alabama’s Tua Tagaovailoa and Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray have grabbed all of the headlines, but Fromm and Ehlinger have been excellent in their own right.

Fromm was near perfect in Atlanta on Saturday, outpacing Tagovailoa the entire way. He threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns while avoiding turnovers, doing everything he could to lift Georgia passed Alabama and into the College Football Playoff. They fell short, but Fromm was downright surgical, putting a cap on an outstanding second season in Athens.

Ehlinger had an interception, but he also went over 300 yards passing in his conference title game, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for two more, once again nearly lifting Texas to a win over Oklahoma.

The biggest reason for optimism next season in Austin will be Ehlinger’s return.

The similarities between the two is striking, with both playing in the shadow of bigger named guys, and both playing at a high level all season long.

Look at the numbers:

Ehlinger: 64.3% completion rate, 3,123 yards, 25 TDs, 5 INT, 148.5 rating
Fromm: 68.4% completion rate, 2,537 yards, 27 TDs, 5 INT, 175.8 rating

Ehlinger added 418 yards on the ground with 13 more touchdowns, and had the bigger offensive load night in and night out. Ehlinger didn’t have the luxury to hand the ball off to guys as talented as D’Andre Swift and Elijah Holyfield, but Fromm shut up any remaining doubters with how he played against a talented Alabama defense.

Both signal-callers have had outstanding seasons, albeit with much less fanfare than is probably deserved. It will be a lot of fun to see duel it out in New Orleans.