Few collegiate teams have been as successful or generated as many NFL star players as Alabama.
Surprisingly, no player who finished his collegiate career playing for the Crimson Tide has ever scored a point in the Super Bowl.
That won’t change this year, since neither the Chiefs nor the 49ers have any former Alabama players on their active rosters.
Players from 143 universities have scored a point in a Super Bowl, with Miami leading the way with 84, followed by Florida (82), Penn State (81), Notre Dame, and California (66).
Even the Coast Guard Academy has gotten in on the action, with Washington’s Curt Knight scoring an extra point in a 14-7 loss in Super Bowl 7.
The program’s streak of a record 12 Associated Press crowns and the most NFL players (68) this season nearly ended a year ago when DeVonta Smith caught a 45-yard pass for Philadelphia before being ruled out at the 2.
Jalen Hurts, who started his college career at Alabama but moved to the NFL from Oklahoma, threw that pass. Hurts scored 20 points in that game, including three touchdown runs and a two-point conversion run.
Alabama has had Super Bowl success at quarterback, with the first three MVPs being Crimson Tide players, as well as Super Bowl 11 winner Ken Stabler.
Green Bay’s Bart Starr tossed two touchdown passes against Kansas City in Super Bowl 1, and another against the Raiders the following year. However, the NFL allocates points to the guy who receives a touchdown pass, not the passer.
Joe Namath won MVP for the Jets in Super Bowl III versus the Colts despite not scoring or throwing a touchdown. Stabler threw one touchdown pass in Oakland’s triumph over Minnesota.
Comeback kids
San Francisco advanced to the Super Bowl after an incredible comeback against Detroit in the NFC championship game.
The 49ers rallied from a 24-7 halftime deficit to win 34-31 and go to their seventh Super Bowl, tied for the second most ever.
The comeback equaled for the largest in NFC championship history, with the Niners coming back from 17 points down to defeat Atlanta 28-24 in 2012.
It was one point shy of the greatest comeback in any conference championship game, with Cincinnati rallying from 18 points down to defeat Kansas City two years ago and Indianapolis doing the same against New England in 2006.
The only other comeback of this magnitude in a Super Bowl or NFL championship game was the Patriots’ rally from 28-3 down to defeat Atlanta 34-28 in overtime in Super Bowl 51.
Before the Lions’ collapse, the overall postseason record for teams leading by at least 17 points at halftime was 107-6.
San Francisco also rallied from seven points behind in the fourth quarter to defeat Green Bay in the previous round, becoming only the eighth club to overcome second-half deficits in both the divisional round and the conference championship game.
Road warriors
Kansas City did not play a single road game during their first five postseasons with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback.
That didn’t stop them from becoming a dominant travelling show en route to their fourth Super Bowl trip in five seasons.
After defeating Buffalo in the divisional round, the Chiefs won the AFC championship game against Baltimore.
With a victory over San Francisco next week, Kansas City will become the tenth team to win the Super Bowl after travelling for the divisional round and conference championship. The Chiefs were the first to do it in 1969, when they defeated the Jets and Raiders on their way to Super Bowl IV.
The Giants are the only franchise to have done it twice, in 2007 and 2011.
The other teams to accomplish this were Tampa Bay in 2020, Baltimore in 2012, Green Bay in 2010, Pittsburgh in 2005, Denver in 1997, and the Oakland Raiders in 1980.
Mahomes established and safeguarded records on championship Sunday.
Mahomes became the first quarterback to make six straight playoff starts without throwing an interception with his previous pick coming in overtime of a loss to Cincinnati in the 2021 AFC title game.
Six players had made five consecutive playoff starts: Joe Montana, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Drew Brees, Jeff Hostetler, and Tony Eason.
Brock Purdy of San Francisco missed entering that group when he threw his first career postseason interception in the NFC title game, a 34-31 victory against Detroit. Purdy’s 114 consecutive passes without an interception to begin his playoff career were the seventh longest streak, according to Sportradar.
Mahomes currently leads the record with 163 attempts, followed by Josh Allen (155), Alex Smith (119), and Jeff Hostetler, who had no interceptions in 115 postseason attempts.
Clean sweep.
The 49ers completed a clean sweep of the other NFC playoff teams.
The Niners won over the Detroit Lions, giving them victories against the other six NFC playoff opponents. The 1993 Chiefs were the last club to beat every other playoff team in their conference in both the regular season and the postseason.
San Francisco also defeated Pittsburgh in the season opener, giving the 49ers victories against seven playoff teams. Only five other teams have accomplished this in NFL history: the 2022 Chiefs, the 2015 Broncos, the 2007 Patriots, the 2006 Colts, and the 1982 Jets.
With a win over the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, San Francisco will become the first club to defeat eight playoff opponents.
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