The Big 10 in The Super Bowl

Fifteen former Big 10 players are part of the active rosters for the Packers and Steelers combined (14% of the combined active rosters of the teams came from the Big 10).  Nine play for the Steelers and six play for the Packers.  For the Steelers, five play on offense, three play defense, and one plays special teams.  For the Packers, four play defense and two play offense.  For both teams, the average years pro for the B10 players is 6.3333 years.  Both teams have a Big 10 player who has been pro for thirteen years (for the Packers it's Charles Woodson of Michigan who is also the longest serving active Packer) (for the Steelers it's Flozell Adams, a Tackle out of Michigan State - the second longest serving active player on the team - the longest has 14 years as a pro).  The youngest Big 10 Player for the Steelers has been pro for two seasons (PSU's Jeremy Kapinos...Punter).  The Packers have two rookies from the Big 10...Andrew Quarless of PSU and Brian Bulaga of Iowa...I think you've heard their names before.  The Big 10 makes up 17% of the Steelers' Roster and 11% of the Packers' roster.

Packers:

Brian Bulaga (R) Iowa (T), Charles Woodson (13yr) Michigan (CB), AJ Hawk (5yr) Ohio St (LB), Ryan Pickett (5yr) Ohio St (DE), Matt Wilhelm (8yr) Ohio St (LB), Andrew Quarless (R) PSU (TE)

Steelers:

Rashard Mendenhall (3yr) Illinois (RB), Antwaan Randle El (9yr) Indiana (WR), Larry Foote (9yr) Michigan (LB), LaMarr Woodley (4yr) Michigan (LB), Flozell Adams (13yr) Michigan State (T), Matt Spaeth (4yr) Minnesota (TE), Trai Essex (6yr) Northwestern (G), Will Allen (7yr) Ohio State (S), Jeremy Kapinos (2yr) PSU (P)

For the Steelers. their players come from the following conferences (in order of representation): ACC = 10, BIG10 = 9, SEC = 7, MAC = 5, BIG12 = 4, CUSA = 4, MOUNTAIN WEST = 4, SUN BELT = 3, PAC10 = 2, BIG EAST = 2, BIG SKY = 1, CIAA = 1, and one lonely Gold Domer.

For the Packers, their players come from the following conferences (in order of representation): SEC = 11, MAC = 8, BIG10 = 6, WAC = 5, PAC10 = 4, BIG12 = 4, ACC = 3, CUSA = 3, BIG EAST = 2, BIG SKY = 1, GLIAC = 1, MEAC = 1, MOUNTAIN WEST = 1, PSAC = 1, SUN BELT = 1, SWAC = 1.  (Interesting...2 players from Div II colleges) (No Gold domers!)

Central MIchigan, LSU, Ohio State, and Tennessee each have 4 players in the active rosters.  Michigan has 3.  20 Schools have 2 players between the two rosters (Alabama, Texas, Cal, Miami (OH), FSU, Eastern Michigan, UCF, Bowling Green, etc.  47 schools are providing only 1 player between the two rosters (Notre Dame!)

So, PSU is in good company by only having two players in the game however it is important to note that the two teams are made up as much by players from lesser-known schools than the marquee schools.  So, when PSU is playing some of the cupcakes in the early season, remember that you just might be seeing some of those players from the other teams playing on future Sundays...with almost equal chance as the players from the big name schools.  

Hope you find this interesting, I sure did.