The Super Bowl's set. Sure, there's a college national championship, but every year, only 20-ish teams have a real chance of winning, so let's see what schools did the best at having pro players who did the best. We'll look at how the Super Bowl teams break down by school and by conference - and also who's going to win based on these factors.
First, the entire chart of 49ers and Ravens players (active roster only) according to their college affiliations:
2013 Super Bowl coverage from around SB Nation
- Miami - 5 (49ers: Frank Gore, Tavares Gooden, Ravens: Ray Lewis, Bryant McKinnie, Ed Reed): Yes, the U is number one, and four Canes are starting. The crazy thing is that they're mainly throwbacks to the teams that actually resembled the U: Bryant McKinnie and Ed Reed were starters on the 2001 national championship team that's one of the best college football has ever produced, while Frank Gore was a third-string running back behind Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee. Lewis outdates even them, starting for the Canes in 1993, just two years after they won a national championship under Dennis Erickson. I guess what I'm trying to say is, []_[].
- Marshall - 4 (49ers: Randy Moss, C.J. Spillman, Ravens: Omar Brown, Albert McClellan): Marshall has four players in the Super Bowl! Some of it's due to Randy Moss' ridiculous ability to still contribute in the NFL after all these years, but there's three other guys too. Let us not forget that Byron Leftwich has a Super Bowl ring as a Steelers' backup, and that Chad Pennington once existed. Or that West Virginia has zero players in this game, sort of negating their Coal Bowl win this year.
- Ohio State - 4 (49ers: Ted Ginn, Jr., Alex Boone, Larry Grant, Donte Whitner): Between Miami and Ohio State, the Super Bowl is really the only bowl a lot of these schools' fans had to look forward to this season. Getting sanctioned boosts your chances for success on the pro level, it appears.
- Oregon - 4 (49ers: Will Tukuafu, LaMichael James, Ravens: Ed Dickson, Haloti Ngata): Odd that three of these guys are starters, and James is the only one who's been a superstar at Oregon during their recent run of success. Dickson and Tukuafu were kind of there for the beginning, but James was a key reason they did so well in 2010-2012.
- Texas - 4 (49ers: Tarell Brown, Leonard Davis, Ravens: Chykie Brown, Justin Tucker): Tucker's Baltimore's kicker, so don't yell "hook 'em" at him.
- Utah - 4 (49ers: Alex Smith, Ma'ake Kemoatu, Ravens: Paul Kruger, David Reed): The Utes are technically a major conference team right now, so this isn't as cool anymore. Paul Kruger gets some serious reps as a pass-rushing defensive end for Baltimore, and Alex Smith might have lost his starting job, but still makes his teammates feel better about themselves by showing them how tiny his hands are.
After that, there's a bunch with two and a bunch with one. enjoy!
- Alabama - 2 (Ravens: Terence Cody, Courtney Upshaw)
- Arizona State - 2 (49ers: Brian Jennings, Ravens: Terrell Suggs)
- Auburn - 2 (49ers: Carlos Rogers, Ravens: Josh Bynes)
- Delaware - 2 (Ravens: Joe Flacco, Gino Gradkowski): It's not just Joe Flacco repping the Blue Hens. Hopefully he wins where fellow Delaware QB Rich Gannon fell short.
- Florida - 2 (Ravens: Ray McDonald, Deonte Thompson)
- Georgia - Ravens: Dannell Ellerbe, DeAngelo Tyson
- Iowa - 2 (Ravens: Sean Considine, Marshal Yanda)
- Louisville - 2 (49ers: David Akers, Chris Johnson)
- Maryland - 2 (Ravens: Torrey Smith, Vernon Davis)
- Michigan State - 2 (49ers: Garrett Celek, Trenton Robinson)
- Mississippi State: 2 (49ers: Anthony Dixon, Ravens, Pernell McPhee)
- Missouri - 2 (49ers: Aldon Smith, Justin Smith)
- Ole Miss - 2 (49ers: Patrick Willis, Ravens: Michael Oher)
- Oklahoma State - 2 (49ers: Perrish Cox, Ravens: Billy Bajema)
- Rutgers: - 2 (49ers: Anthony Davis, Ravens, Ray Rice)
- Texas Tech - 2 (49ers: Michael Crabtree, Darcel McBath)
- Virginia - 2 (49ers: Ahmad Brooks, Cam Johnson)
- Washburn - 2 (49ers: Michael Wilholte, Ravens: Cary Williams): Washburn! Yes, two players from tiny Washburn, a D-II school in Topeka, Kansas made it to the Big Game, including Ravens starting cornerback Cary Williams. Go Ichabods! (Yes, they're the Ichabods.) Fun facts about the Ichabods from Wikipedia: they won the 2010 Kanza Bowl - I don't know what that is - and were involved in the first game with forward passing in 1905.
- Air Force - 49ers: Chad Hall
- Appalachian State - 49ers: Daniel Kilgore
- Arkansas - Ravens: Bobbie Williams
- Arkansas State - Ravens: Bryan Hall
- Bellhaven - 49ers: Tramaine Brock
- BYU - Ravens: Dennis Pitta
- Cal Poly - Ravens: Asa Jackson
- Central Michigan - 49ers: Joe Staley
- Central Missouri - 49ers: Delanie Walker
- Colorado - Ravens: Jimmy Smith
- Colorado State - 49ers: Clark Haggans
- East Carolina - Ravens: Vonta Leach
- Florida State - Ravens: Anquan Boldin
- Georgia Tech - (Ravens: Anthony Allen)
- Harvard - Ravens: Matt Birk (Birk's the only smartypants Ivy player here.)
- Hawaii - 49ers: Isaac Sopoaga
- Idaho - 49ers: Mike Iupati
- Illinois - 49ers: A.J. Jenkins (Note: there are 13 Big Ten players in the Super Bowl, and nearly all of them are backups at skill positions for the 49ers.)
- Indiana - Ravens: Tandon Doss
- Iowa State - Ravens: Kelechi Osemele
- Lane - Ravens: Jacoby Jones
- LSU - 49ers: Ricky Jean Francois
- Michigan - 49ers: Jonathan Goodwin
- Morehouse - Ravens: Ramon Harewood
- Nebraska - Ravens: Sam Koch (A Big Ten team's only player in the game is a punter, because B1G)
- Nevada - 49ers: Colin Kaepernick
- New Hampshire - Ravens: Corey Graham
- Notre Dame - 49ers: Ian Williams
- Penn State - 49ers: NaVarro Bowman
- Pittsburgh - 49ers: Andy Lee
- Prairie View A&M - Ravens: Adrian Hamilton
- Purdue - Ravens: Bernard Pollard
- South Carolina - 49ers: Chris Culliver
- Southern Illinois - 49ers: Jewel Hampton (Jewel took Brandon Jacobs' roster spot, because the 49ers are contractually obligated to only have one running back who transferred from a major school to Southern Illinois at any given time.)
- Syracuse - Ravens: Arthur Johnson
- Temple - Ravens: Bernard Pierce
- Tennessee - Ravens: Morgan Cox
- Texas A&M - Tony Jerod-Eddie
- UCF - Ravens: Bruce Miller
- UCLA - Ravens: Brandon Ayanbadejo
- UMass - Ravens: James Ihedigbo (sry FCS)
- Virginia Tech - Ravens: Tyrod Taylor
- Wake Forest - 49ers: Joe Looney
- Washington - Ravens: Dashon Goldson
- Wisconsin - 49ers: Scott Tolzien (Yes, we're one win away from "Scott Tolzien, Super Bowl Champion" or "Tyrod Taylor, Super Bowl Champion.")
Players by conference: Yes, the conference with the most players in it is the SEC. We'll talk about this later. Props to the Big Ten for settling for second place by having 15, and to the WAC for going out with one.
- SEC: 19
- Big Ten: 15
- Pac-12: 13
- ACC: 13
- Big 12: Nine
- FCS: Eight
- Big East: Seven
- Conference USA: Six
- Division II schools: Five
- Mountain West: Four
- MAC: Two
- Independents: Two
- Sun Belt: One
- WAC: One
- NAIA: One
AND YOUR EVENTUAL SUPER BOWL CHAMPION: How to correctly determine the winner of the upcoming Super Bowl? Well, normally, we'd ask Paul Finebaum, but he's off the air for three months, and we can't wait that long. So instead, we'll figure it out the next most sensible way: by figuring which team has the most players actually capable of winning championships, aka players who played at SEC schools. Wanna know the winner? I'll hang up and listen:
- San Francisco 49ers: 9 (Aldon Smith, Justin Smith, Chris Culliver, Patrick Willis, Carlos Rogers, Anthony Dixon, Ricky Jean Francois, Tony Jerod-Eddie, Ray McDonald)
- Baltimore Ravens: 10 (Courtney Upshaw, Terence Cody, Dannell Ellerbe, Josh Bynes, Michael Oher, Bobbie Williams, DeAngelo Tyson, Deonte Thompson, Pernell McPhee, Morgan Cox)
A 10-9 edge for the Ravens, but that ain't no football score, Pawwwl.
There's only one way to settle this: by crossing out the players from teams that don't really matter, like schools that just joined the SEC, then schools that fired their coaches this year, then schools who had to hire coaches from the Big Ten, then schools from MIssissippi because come on, then schools whose programs have been lost control of, and let's get rid of, let's say, just any school with a coach taller than 5'8 and OH MY GOODNESS IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE JUST LEFT WITH TWO PLAYERS WOW HOW DID THAT HAPPEN: Terence Cody and Courtney Upshaw, defensive starters for the Baltimore Ravens and former members of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
ROLL RAVENS HEY NINERS HEY NINERS HEY NINERS WE JUST BEAT THE HELL OUTTA YOU. Congrats to Baltimore, your eventual Super Bowl XLVII Champions!
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