A conference-by-conference breakdown of all the starting QBs in Super Bowl history
Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Los Angeles’ Matthew Stafford will be the 64th and 65th different starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl history, and Sunday’s Super Bowl LVI will mark the fourth time two SEC quarterbacks will face off as starters.
Burrow and Stafford will be the second starting quarterbacks from their respective alma maters. Burrow joins David Woodley (Miami Dolphins, SB XVII) as LSU alums who have started; Stafford and Fran Tarkenton (Minnesota Vikings, SBs VII, IX and XI) are Georgia alums.
The other SEC vs. SEC meetings in the Super Bowl: Super Bowl XI (Alabama’s Kenny Stabler vs. Tarkenton), Super Bowl XLI (Tennessee’s Peyton Manning vs. Florida’s Rex Grossman) and Super Bowl 50 (Manning vs. Auburn’s Cam Newton). The only other times two quarterbacks from the same conference were starters was Super Bowl XXXIII, when two Pac-12 alums met up (Stanford’s John Elway vs. Washington’s Chris Chandler), and Super Bowl XLIX, when two Big Ten quarterbacks squared off (Michigan’s Tom Brady vs. Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson).
The most common quarterback matchup in the Super Bowl has been Big Ten vs. SEC, which has happened seven times. In second is Big Ten vs. Pac-12, which has happened five times.
Forty-seven schools have had a quarterback start a Super Bowl, and the starts by Burrow and Stafford will be the 17th and 18th by former SEC quarterbacks. Using current conference affiliations, the Pac-12 has had the most quarterbacks start a Super Bowl (12) but former Big Ten quarterbacks have made the most starts (24).
Thanks to Tom Brady, who made them all, Michigan has the most starts by quarterbacks in Super Bowl history with 10. Notre Dame and Stanford are tied for second with seven.
California (Jared Goff, Joe Kapp, Craig Morton and Aaron Rodgers) has had four quarterbacks start a Super Bowl, which is the most for any school. Alabama (Joe Namath, Ken Stabler and Bart Starr), Notre Dame (Daryle Lamonica, Joe Montana and Joe Theismann) and Purdue (Drew Brees, Len Dawson and Bob Griese) are tied for second with three.
Twenty-six schools have produced Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks. That number is guaranteed to increase by one Sunday because Tarkenton and Woodley were a combined 0-4 in their Super Bowl starts.
Among the schools that have not had a starting Super Bowl quarterback are Ohio State, Texas and USC.
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Here’s a breakdown by conference (again, using current conference affiliations) of each quarterback who has started a Super Bowl, his alma mater and his record.
BIG TEN (11 QBs, 24 starts, 12-12 record)
Illinois: Tony Eason (0-1)
Maryland: Boomer Esiason (0-1), Neil O’Donnell (0-1)
Michigan: Tom Brady (7-3)
Michigan State: Earl Morrall (0-1)
Nebraska: Vince Ferragamo (0-1)
Penn State: Kerry Collins (0-1)
Purdue: Drew Brees (1-0), Len Dawson (1-1), Bob Griese (2-1)
Wisconsin: Russell Wilson (1-1)
PAC-12 (12 QBs, 20 starts, 10-10)
Arizona: Nick Foles (1-0)
California: Joe Kapp (0-1), Jared Goff (0-1), Craig Morton (0-2), Aaron Rodgers (1-0)
Stanford: John Elway (2-3), Jim Plunkett (2-0)
UCLA: Troy Aikman (3-0); Billy Kilmer (0-1)
Washington: Chris Chandler (0-1)
Washington State: Drew Bledsoe (0-1), Mark Rypien (1-0)
SEC (9 QBs, 16 starts, 8-8)
Alabama: Joe Namath (1-0), Kenny Stabler (1-0), Bart Starr (2-0)
Auburn: Cam Newton (0-1)
Florida: Rex Grossman (0-1)
Georgia: Fran Tarkenton (0-3)
LSU: David Woodley (0-1)
Ole Miss: Eli Manning (2-0)
Tennessee: Peyton Manning (2-2)
INDEPENDENTS (6 QBs, 13 starts, 9-4)
BYU: Jim McMahon (1-0), Steve Young (1-0)
Navy: Roger Staubach (2-2)
Notre Dame: Daryle Lamonica (0-1), Joe Montana (4-0), Joe Theismann (1-1)
ACC (7 QBs, 10 starts, 2-8)
Boston College: Matt Hasselbeck (0-1), Matt Ryan (0-1)
Florida State: Brad Johnson (1-0)
Louisville: Johnny Unitas (1-0)
Miami: Jim Kelly (0-4)
Pitt: Dan Marino (0-1)
Syracuse: Donovan McNabb (0-1)
FCS (8 QBs, 10 starts, 4-6)
Alcorn State: Steve McNair (0-1)
Delaware: Joe Flacco (1-0), Rich Gannon (0-1)
Eastern Illinois: Jimmy Garoppolo (0-1)
Grambling: Doug Williams (1-0)
Morehead State: Phil Simms (1-0)
Northern Iowa: Kurt Warner (1-2)
Youngstown State: Ron Jaworski (0-1)
CONFERENCE USA (2 QBs, 6 starts, 5-1)
Louisiana Tech: Terry Bradshaw (4-0)
Southern Miss: Brett Favre (1-1)
BIG 12 (2 QBs, 3 starts, 2-1)
Texas Tech: Patrick Mahomes (1-1)
West Virginia: Jeff Hostetler (1-0)
MID-AMERICAN (1 QB, 3 starts, 2-1)
Miami (Ohio): Ben Roethlisberger (2-1)
MOUNTAIN WEST (2 QBs, 2 starts, 1-1)
Fresno State: Trent Dilfer (1-0)
Nevada: Colin Kaepernick (0-1)
SUN BELT (2 QBs, 2 starts, 0-2)
Louisiana: Jake Delhomme (0-1)
ULM: Stan Humphries (0-1)
DIVISION III (1 QB, 1 start, 0-1)
Augustana College (Ill.): Ken Anderson (0-1)