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Ohio State and the Super Bowl: Remy's Research Answers

Matt Gutridge's picture
February 3, 2017 at 6:30am
27 Comments

This is always fun to do, thanks to everyone who submitted questions. Have fun this Super Bowl weekend.

And now, the questions.

How many Buckeyes that were on the team when Paterno pooped his pants ended up either playing in or winning a Super Bowl? ~ Fatpants

There were four Ohio State players on the 2006 team that started in a Super Bowl. In '06, it was Ted Ginn Jr.'s junior year, Alex Boone was a sophomore and Jake Ballard and Kurt Coleman were both freshmen when Joe Paterno left the field with a full load.

2006 OHIO STATE PLAYERS TO START IN A SB
PLAYER SUPER BOWL TEAM RESULT
JAKE BALLARD XLVII GIANTS WON
ALEX BOONE XLVII 49ERS LOST
TED GINN JR L PANTHERS LOST
KURT COLEMAN L PANTHERS LOST

I went ahead and checked the 2006 Penn State roster and two players from that team have started in a Super Bowl.

Linebacker NaVorro Bowman was a freshman in '06 and started for the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. Tackle Levi Brown was a senior the day Joe Pa crapped himself and went on to start for the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. Both players suffered losses in the Super Bowl.


OSU QBs that have started a Super Bowl game? ~ John Cooper's Little Pig

Amazingly, not one of the 31 Ohio State alum to start a Super Bowl was a quarterback. Below is a chart breaking down the positions and number of Buckeyes to play in the Super Bowl.

ALL-TIME OHIO STATE STARTERS IN THE SUPER BOWL
  QB RB FB WR TE OT C OG DE DT LB CB SAF TOTAL
PLAYERS 0 3 2 4 2 5 0 3 3 0 5 0 4 31
STARTS 0 3 2 6 2 8 0 3 7 0 9 0 4 44

Linebackers and offensive tackles account for 10 of the 31 Ohio State players in the Super Bowl and 17 of the 44 starts.

If you were wondering, DE Jim Marshall (0-4) and LB Mike Vrabel (3-1) have the most starts with four. Marshall started for the Vikings in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX and XI. Vrabel started for the Patriots in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX and XLII.
 

How about a look at what state has produced the most super bowlers? ~ Killer Nuts

When doing my research, I did not record the place of birth or state the players attended high school. To answer you question, I am going to base the answer on the state the players attended college.

STATES WITH THE MOST SUPER BOWL PLAYERS*
RANK STATE NO. OF PLAYERS SCHOOL
1 CALIFORNIA 148 USC (41)
2 FLORIDA 124 MIAMI, FL (49)
3 TEXAS 123 UT (22)
4 PENNSYLVANIA 64 PSU (27)
5 MICHIGAN 62 UM (32)
6 INDIANA 61 ND (31)
7 NORTH CAROLINA 56 UNC (18)
8 OHIO 53 OHIO STATE (31)
9 ALABAMA 52 'BAMA (22)
9 TENNESSEE 52 UT (28)

*Over the next year, I will add the categories for place of birth and state the players attended high school. 
 

Too easy - highest combined score in a SB game. Most passing yards by the losing QB? Seattle Linga

The 49ers and Chargers combined for 75 points in Super Bowl XXIX. San Francisco won 49-26 giving Steve Young his first title as a starting quarterback.

HIGHEST SCORING SUPER BOWLS
RANK SUPER BOWL SCORE TOTAL
1 XXIX 49ERS 49, CHARGERS 26 75
2 XXXVII BUCANEERS 48, RAIDERS 21 69
2 XXVII COWBOYS 52, BILLS 17 69
4 XIII STEELERS 35, COWBOYS 31 66
5 XXIV 49ERS 55, BRONCOS 10 65

The quarterback who threw for the most yards in a losing effort was Kurt Warner. The Northern Iowa alum completed 31 passes for 377 yards in the Cardinals' 27-23 loss to the Steelers.

Warner also has the second-highest passing yards in a loss with 365 against the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Kurt Warner
Kurt Warner went from the super market to the Super Bowl. 

How many SB points have been scored by former Ohio State Buckeyes? ~ The Butler

One would think that the number would be fairly high. One would be wrong. Eddie George and Mike Vrabel are tied with 12 points. George scored twice in the loss to the Rams and Vrabel caught short touchdown passes in back-to-back Super Bowls. 

BUCKEYES WHO SCORED IN THE SB
PLAYER SUPER BOWL POINTS
MATT SNELL III 6
KEITH BYARS XXXI 6
EDDIE GEORGE XXXIV 12
MIKE VRABEL XXXVIII 6
MIKE VRABEL XXXIX 6
SANTONIO HOLMES XLIII 6
  TOTAL 42


Which NFL team has won the most Super Bowls? ~ Bucknut1994

To date, 19 of the 32 NFL teams account for the 50 Super Bowl wins. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most wins with six. The 49ers and Cowboys are tied for second with five Super Bowl titles.

If the Patriots win on Sunday, they will join the 49ers and Cowboys with five Vince Lombardi trophies. If the Falcons win, they will become the eighth team to have one Super Bowl victory.
 

Most Buckeyes to ever play in a Superbowl (both teams combined)? ~ QuadCitiesBuckeye

The most Ohio State players to start a given Super Bowl is three. This has occurred three times: Super Bowls III, XXXI and L.

In Super Bowl III, Matt Snell started for the victorious Jets and Bob Vogel and Tom Matte started for the Colts.

Keith Byars, Terry Glenn and William Robers started for the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI. That was the first and last time I rooted for New England to win a Super Bowl. They lost.

Last year marked the first time three Buckeyes started for the same team in a Super Bowl. Kurt Coleman, Ted Ginn Jr. and Andrew Norwell started for the losing Panthers. Bradley Roby played significant snaps for the Broncos, but did not start.


Do the 85 Bears win the Super Bowl without Mike Tomczak on the roster? ~ BeatTTUN 

Of course not. Tomczak was the glue that kept the championship team together. Without him on the bench they go 1-15.

Little known fact, Tomczak's lead guitar playing was the key component to The Super Bowl Shuffle:

Tomczak
 

Which conference has the most Super Bowl starters?

Miami (69) and USC (63) are the schools with the most Super Bowl starters. However those gaudy numbers were not enough to give the ACC or PAC 12 the top spot. The trio of Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State gave the Big Ten enough fire power for the crown.

CONFERENCES WITH THE MOST SUPER BOWL STARTERS
CONFERENCE STARTERS TOP SCHOOL STARTERS
BIG TEN 355 MICHIGAN 49
PAC 12 318 USC 63
ACC 312 MIAMI 69
SEC 295 TENNESSEE 39
BIG 12 142 TEXAS 28
MOUNTAIN WEST 102 SAN DIEGO STATE 17
INDEPENDENT 75 NOTRE DAME 47


In your opinion worst Super Bowl team ever. ~ Seattle Linga 

My Super Bowl memories start when Detroit hosted Super Bowl XVI and the 49ers defeated the Bengals. Since that time, the 1985 New England Patriots stick out to me as the worst Super Bowl team. 

This view might be skewed by several factors. The first being that the Bears were heavy favorites and flat-out beat the crap out of the Patriots. There have been larger margin of victories since this game, but very few were as dominant as the performance the Bears put on New England.

The second factor is that I was nine at the time and it was only the fifth Super Bowl I watched. It made a large impression on me how poorly the Patriots played and how easily the Bears made the victory appear.

The 49ers and Cowboys also have blow-out wins over the Broncos and Bills, but I believe those teams from Denver and Buffalo were better than the pathetic team that took a beating in the Super Dome on the evening of January, 26 1986. 

Pounding the pitiful Patriots
Thanks again to everybody who submitted a question.

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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