Regardless of which team wins Super Bowl XLIX a B1G quarterback will be on the podium when the game ends.
Michigan's Tom Brady and Wisconsin's Russell Wilson (who combined to go 1-2 against Ohio State during their college careers) aren't new to the biggest stage in football, and neither are their teams.
What feels new is the emergence of the Big Ten on these types of stages.
| Conference | Players |
|---|---|
| BIG TEN | 27 |
| PAC-12 | 25 |
| SEC | 22 |
| ACC | 12 |
| BIG XII | 9 |
| CONFERENCE USA | 6 |
| MOUNTAIN WEST | 6 |
The conference went 6-5 in the college football postseason (as underdogs in all 11 games) in addition to taking the first-ever CFB Playoff national title. Michigan is now being led by a Super Bowl coach in Jim Harbaugh. Michigan State lost two games last season - to the two teams who played for the title. The Eastern Division is as tough as any in college football.
And now the Super Bowl has more players from the Big Ten than any other conference.
Over a quarter of the players in tomorrow's big game come from B1G schools (27) while the PAC-12 has 25 and the SEC has 22. The four Rutgers Scarlet Knights matches what Alabama and Texas A&M are providing as is more than USC, Texas or any of the Florida schools - who have as many players in Glendale as Purdue and Illinois.
There are five players in Glendale who played college football in Ohio: Buckeye Nate Ebner, BG's Chris Jones, Kent State's Julian Edelman and Josh Kline and Ohio's Landon Cohen.
For all the grief Big Ten football has received - which admittedly came grinding to a screeching halt once the calendar flipped to 2015 - the conference appears to be quite relevant at all levels of football.
