Super Bowl XLIX will be the first time two Big Ten quarterbacks will face off in the game's history, and coupled with Ohio State's recent national championship, that's another nice talking point for the league as National Signing Day approaches for recruits.
Forty-four schools have had a quarterback start a Super Bowl. Seattle's Russell Wilson is the only Wisconsin alum to start one, and New England's Tom Brady also is the only Michigan alum to start the big game.
But this will be Brady's record sixth Super Bowl start, meaning Michigan is tied for the third-most starts in Super Bowl history. Notre Dame and Stanford quarterbacks have started more Super Bowls than any other school, with seven; Michigan and Purdue have six each, while Alabama, California, Louisiana Tech, Miami, Navy and UCLA have four each. The starts for Louisiana Tech (Terry Bradshaw), Miami (Jim Kelly), Michigan (Brady) and Navy (Roger Staubach) have come from one quarterback.
Using current conference affiliations, the starts by Brady and Wilson mean the Big Ten will have had 10 starts this century (including the Super Bowl following the 1999 season), which is the most of any conference. Second in that span is the SEC with six; there also have been six starts by players from FCS schools. The ACC and MAC have three starts each, the Mountain West has two and the Pac-12 and Sun Belt one each. No quarterback from a current Big 12 school has started a Super Bowl since 1991, when West Virginia alum Jeff Hostetler started for the New York Giants. That is the only Super Bowl start by a quarterback from a school currently in the Big 12.
Four schools have had three quarterbacks start a Super Bowl, which is the most for any school: Alabama (Joe Namath, Ken Stabler and Bart Starr), California (Joe Kapp, Craig Morton and Aaron Rodgers), Notre Dame (Daryle Lamonica, Joe Montana and Joe Theismann) and Purdue (Drew Brees, Len Dawson and Bob Griese).
Twenty-four schools have produced Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, led by Notre Dame with five victories. Alabama, Louisiana Tech, Purdue and Stanford have four wins each. Here's a look at each Super Bowl-winning quarterback, his alma mater and his wins:
» Terry Bradshaw, Louisiana Tech: 4
» Joe Montana, Notre Dame: 4
» Troy Aikman, UCLA: 3
» Tom Brady, Michigan: 3
» John Elway, Stanford: 2
» Bob Griese, Purdue: 2
» Eli Manning, Ole Miss: 2
» Jim Plunkett, Stanford: 2
» Ben Roethlisberger, Miami (Ohio): 2
» Bart Starr, Alabama: 2
» Roger Staubach, Navy: 2
» Drew Brees, Purdue: 1
» Len Dawson, Purdue: 1
» Trent Dilfer, Fresno State: 1
» Brett Favre, Southern Miss: 1
» Joe Flacco, Delaware: 1
» Jeff Hostetler, West Virginia: 1
» Brad Johnson, Florida State: 1
» Peyton Manning, Tennessee: 1
» Jim McMahon, BYU: 1
» Joe Namath, Alabama: 1
» Aaron Rodgers, California: 1
» Mark Rypien, Washington State: 1
» Phil Simms, Morehead State: 1
» Ken Stabler, Alabama: 1
» Joe Theismann, Notre Dame: 1
» Johnny Unitas, Louisville: 1
» Kurt Warner, Northern Iowa: 1
» Doug Williams, Grambling: 1
» Russell Wilson, Wisconsin: 1
» Steve Young, BYU: 1
As for Super Bowl starts, here is a league-by-league breakdown, using current conference affiliations: Non-Power Five FBS conferences lead with 26, followed by the Pac-12 with 19, the Big Ten with 18, the SEC with 13, the ACC and FCS leagues with nine and the Big 12 and Division III ranks with one each.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
