Cam Newton may be hurtling toward history, but the former Auburn quarterback will not be the lone player representing the SEC in next month’s Super Bowl. In fact, he’s far, far from it.
As you may have heard, Newton’s Carolina Panthers are set to square off with Peyton Manning‘s Denver Broncos in the 50th Super Bowl Feb. 3. Manning and Newton are two of and FBS-best 30 former SEC players who are on the two teams’ rosters, which includes those on the 53-man, reserved/injured list, practice squad, reserved/suspended by commissioner and reserve/future squad.
The Pac-12 is next with 23, followed by the Big Ten (21) and ACC (17). The final Power Five conference, the Big 12, has 10, three less than the Mountain West’s 13. The AAC, with eight, is the only Group of Five league to come close to double digits. The MAC, meanwhile, is the only conference to be shutout, while all of the other divisions in the NCAA combined for 18 players.
Nearly every SEC team is represented in this year’s big game, the lone exception being Vanderbilt. Of the dozen schools in the Pac-12, only Arizona and Washington State are missing. Both the ACC and Big Ten have 11 of their 14 teams in the game, the lone exceptions being Clemson, Louisville and Virginia Tech for the former and Illinois, Minnesota and Rutgers for the latter.
One of those B1G schools that’s in, Nebraska, has had at least one player on a Super Bowl roster for 23 straight years, the longest active streak for any FBS program.
Ohio State easily outdistances individual schools with seven, three more than the four each for Auburn, Georgia Tech, Oregon State and Tennessee. Alabama, Arizona State, Colorado State, Georgia, Nevada, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas A&M, USC and Utah.
A total of 20 schools have two players each, including Coastal Carolina, the only non-FBS program in the group. The other 19 includes Arkansas, Boise State, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi State, Missouri, North Carolina, San Diego State, South Carolina, Stanford, Troy, Tulane, Washington and Wisconsin.