Four quarterbacks still have a shot at a Super Bowl title this year. Let’s look at where Super Bowl quarterbacks played their college football.
With the 2017 college football season now in the rearview mirror, the long slog of the offseason has commenced. Gridiron fans can still get their fix by turning their attention to the professional game. Right now the NFL is winding its way through the playoffs toward the Super Bowl. As of this moment, four players have the chance to take their respective franchises to the big game.
Only one of the quartet has done it before. Tom Brady has been to the championship game on seven occasions, all with the New England Patriots. Five of his seven starts in the Super Bowl have resulted in Lombardi Trophies. As a two-year starter for Michigan, Brady put up decent if hardly earth-shattering numbers. Now he has become the most prolific quarterback in football history.
On an interesting note, Brady is the only Michigan quarterback ever to reach the Super Bowl. While the Wolverines have been among the most successful teams in college football history, their passers have largely failed to find success at the next level.
And then there are the neophytes to this stage.
The other three players in the NFC and AFC championship games are all new to this stage. All three represent schools that have never before sent a former starting quarterback to the Super Bowl.
Nick Foles is the Pac-12 guy of the trio, suiting up in relief for the injured Carson Wentz. Instead of a former FCS national champion in Wentz, we get an Arizona alumnus who has come full circle. Foles was a star in his second pro season, leading the NFL in passer rating, yards per attempt, and touchdown percentage in 2013. Foles started his career in Philadelphia as a revelation, was cast aside, but now returns to guide the Eagles as a journeyman
Blake Bortles is the high draft pick who is finally making good on his promise. Bortles was the last great UCF quarterback to lead the Knights to a major bowl game before the Knights went undefeated this year. The starter for the last Big East champions, Bortles won the Fiesta Bowl before becoming the third overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He has shown glimpses of greatness in Jacksonville and now looks to make the next leap.
Then there is Case Keenum, the prolific Houston Cougars quarterback who has knocked around the NFL before landing with Minnesota. The Vikings starter landed his position after Teddy Bridgewater went down with a terrible knee injury. Thanks to a ferocious defense and help from his offensive teammates, Keenum has Minnesota one game away from its first Super Bowl in decades.
How do these players compare to former Super Bowl quarterbacks?
This year’s final four features two passers who starred at what we used to call non-AQ schools back in the BCS days. Keenum and Bortles are both products of mid-major programs, as both played the majority of their time in Conference USA. (Bortles technically got to spend one year at a major program when UCF moved up to the Big East in his senior season.)
The other two starting quarterbacks took what might be assumed to be the more traditional route to pro glory. But Arizona has never seen one of its quarterbacks reach a position to play for the Lombardi Trophy. Even historic powerhouses like Michigan have had limited success. After all, without Brady’s seven Super Bowl appearances the Wolverines never would have seen one of their former quarterbacks start in the NFL championship game.
This week in Sunday Morning Quarterback, let’s look at the previous quarterbacks who played in the Super Bowl. How have mid-majors and lower-division stars fared in the biggest game of the pro football calendar? Which schools have put the most star quarterbacks into position for an NFL title? Keep reading for a look at Super Bowl quarterbacks by school, conference, and NCAA division.
Top schools represented by quarterbacks in the Super Bowl
Tom Brady is the most successful individual quarterback in the modern era of the NFL. Brady has led the New England Patriots to five Super Bowl victories since taking over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001. After passing Joe Montana atop the list of the most Super Bowls won by a quarterback last year, he could expand that record to six this season.
What is almost even more impressive is that Brady singlehandedly has Michigan tied with Notre Dame in terms of both Super Bowl wins and Super Bowl appearances by school. Both schools have seen their quarterbacks win five Super Bowls and appear in seven editions apiece. Three different Fighting Irish quarterbacks appeared in the big game. Daryle Lamonica lost the second edition of the big game with the Oakland Raiders, Joe Thiesmann went 1-1 in two appearances, and Montana sealed up four titles.
Stanford has also seen its quarterbacks play in seven NFL championship games. Between Heisman winner Jim Plunkett and five-time Super Bowl participant John Elway, the Cardinal saw its former stars win two titles each. Plunkett claimed Super Bowl XV and Super Bowl XVIII with the Raiders, while Elway starred with the Denver Broncos.
Which other schools have been represented over the past half-century?
Over the first 51 years of Super Bowl history, 43 schools have sent representatives to the game. Notre Dame, Michigan, and Stanford top the list. Louisiana Tech features prominently thanks to Terry Bradshaw’s four titles with the Pittsburgh Steelers. California and UCLA are both high on the list, thanks in part to transfer quarterbacks.
Likewise, Alabama has been the most successful college football team of the nascent College Football Playoff era. The school also had early success in the Super Bowl era, with the school’s former passers winning the first three editions of what was then the AFL-NFL championship game. Bart Star won Super Bowls I and II as the leader of the Green Bay Packers. Joe Namath won Super Bowl III with the New York Jets. The Crimson Tide could also take pride in Ken Stabler‘s Super Bowl XI victory with the Raiders.
And, thanks to Troy Aikman, both Oklahoma and UCLA can lay some claim to three Super Bowl victories by its former star. Aikman, of course, transferred after ceding his spot atop the Sooners depth chart to Jamelle Holieway via injury.
Full chart of colleges represented by quarterbacks in Super Bowl
| W | L | TOT | |
| Notre Dame | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Michigan | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Stanford | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| California | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Louisiana Tech | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| UCLA | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Navy | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Alabama | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Miami (FL) | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Tennessee | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Miami (OH) | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Northern Iowa | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Georgia | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| BYU | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Delaware | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| NC State | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Wisconsin | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Southern Mississippi | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Washington State | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Boston College | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Maryland | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Florida State | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Fresno State | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grambling | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Morehead State | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| West Virginia | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Louisville | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Michigan State | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Illinois | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| NE Louisiana | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Nevada | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Penn State | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Nebraska | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Alcorn State | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Augustana (IL) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Louisiana State | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Youngstown State | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Washington | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Florida | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Auburn | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Top conferences represented by quarterbacks in the Super Bowl
No conference has been better represented in the Super Bowl than the west-coast conference known over time as the Pac-8, Pac-10, and Pac-12. What might be most interesting about that fact is that the conference’s most historically successful school on a national scale does not factor into that calculation.
USC has never seen one of its players reach a Super Bowl. Mark Sanchez came close with the New York Jets on several occasions. Others like Carson Palmer have shown promise and reached the playoffs regularly. But none have actually made it to the Promised Land of a title shot at the NFL level.
Instead, it has been players like California’s Joe Kapp, Craig Morton, Vince Ferragamo, and Aaron Rodgers helping lead the way. There too was UCLA’s Troy Aikman, the Stanford pair John Elway and Jim Plunkett, and both Washington schools thanks to Mark Rypien, Drew Bledsoe, and Chris Chandler.
Independents still top the charts despite the growth of conferences.
For the first half of the Super Bowl era to date, independent football programs have been a huge part of the quarterback production for the championship game. Notre Dame is a big part of that success rate, having generated seven of the 23 Super Bowl appearances by independents. But they are just the most prominent modern example of what used to be a widespread pool of unaffiliated programs.
Before schools like Penn State, Miami, and Florida State joined conferences in the 1990s, they were independent powerhouses. The last player to play college football for an independent and later reach a Super Bowl was Kerry Collins, formerly of Penn State and the New York Giants.
The last quarterback from an independent to win the Super Bowl was Brett Favre, who suited up for Southern Miss back when the Golden Eagles were still independent. As fewer and fewer independent programs remain viable in the 21st century, Farve may continue to be the last independent winner.
Full chart of conferences represented by quarterbacks in Super Bowl
| W | L | TOT | |
| Ind | 10 | 13 | 23 |
| PAC | 9 | 10 | 19 |
| Big Ten | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| SEC | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| ACC | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Gulf States | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| WAC | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Big 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| MAC | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| MVC | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| CAA | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| SWAC | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Big East | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| OVC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Southland | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Big West | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| CCIW | 0 | 1 | 1 |
NCAA divisions as represented by quarterbacks in the Super Bowl
As readers might have noticed from the previous chart, there are some less familiar conferences represented in the list of NFL championship quarterbacks. While the majority of colleges featured among the Super Bowl participants are from the top-tier of the NCAA divisions, small schools dot the list all up and down the timeline.
Perhaps the most interesting case is that of Ken Anderson, the losing finalist matched up against Notre Dame’s Joe Montana in Super Bowl XVI. Anderson grew up in Wisconsin, and stayed close to home to play for Augustana College. A three-time all-conference selection in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, Anderson ended up a third-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1971 back when Augustana was still an NAIA school.
While there has never been a Division II or Division III quarterback to reach the Super Bowl, Anderson’s case shows that quarterbacks can emerge from the lower ranks. Three Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks — Phil Simms, Kurt Warner, and Joe Flacco — have sealed up an NFL title after playing at FCS programs.
Next: Latest 2018 NFL Mock Draft post bowl season
Quarterbacks in Super Bowl by college football division
| W | L | TOT | |
| I (BEFORE 1978) | 22 | 16 | 38 |
| FBS (1978-PRES) | 26 | 29 | 55 |
| FCS (1978-PRES) | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| II | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| III | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NAIA | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Five other quarterbacks have suited up for the Super Bowl since the early 1980s after Division I split into two subdivisions. In addition to Flacco, for instance, the Delaware Blue Hens also saw former passer Rich Gannon also make a Super Bowl appearance.