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Few collegiate programs have achieved the same level of success or generated as many NFL stars as Alabama’s.
Surprisingly, no player who played for the Crimson Tide in college has ever managed to score a point in a Super Bowl.
This season, that won’t alter because neither the 49ers nor the Chiefs have an active former Alabama player.
In a Super Bowl, players from 143 different institutions have scored points, with Miami players leading the pack with 84, followed by Florida with 82, Penn State with 81, and Notre Dame and California with 66 apiece.
FILE – On Sunday, February 12, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 57 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, wide receiver DeVonta Smith, left, struggles to catch a pass while being defended by cornerback L’Jarius Sneed of the Kansas City Chiefs. Few collegiate programs have achieved the same level of success or generated as many NFL stars as Alabama’s. Surprisingly, no player who played for the Crimson Tide in college has ever managed to score a point in a Super Bowl. (Brynn Anderson, File/AP Photo)
With an extra point scored by Washington’s Curt Knight in a 14-7 loss in Super Bowl 7, even the Coast Guard Academy joined in.
Last year, DeVonta Smith of Philadelphia caught a 45-yard catch but was declared out at the 2, ending a run of nearly 68 NFL players and a record 12 Associated Press crowns for the program.
Jalen Hurts, an Oklahoma native who joined the NFL out of college, started his undergraduate career at Alabama and completed that pass. With three touchdown runs and a two-point conversion run, Hurts scored 20 points in that contest.
Alabama has been successful in the Super Bowl at quarterback; Ken Stabler, the winner of Super Bowl 11, and the first three MVPs were Crimson Tide alumni.
In Super Bowl 1, Bart Starr scored two touchdown passes for Green Bay against Kansas City, and he added another against the Raiders the following season. However, the player who catches a touchdown pass receives NFL credit rather than the one who throws it.
In Super Bowl 3 versus the Colts, Joe Namath won MVP for the Jets despite not running for a touchdown or passing one. Stabler only had one touchdown pass in Oakland’s victory over Minnesota.
Thanks to an incredible comeback against Detroit in the NFC title game, San Francisco was able to advance to the Super Bowl.
The 49ers, who were trailing 24-7 at the half, came back to win 34-31 and go to their eighth Super Bowl, which is tied for the second-most in franchise history.
The comeback was tied for the largest in NFC championship history, with the Niners defeating Atlanta 28-24 in the 2012 season after trailing by 17 points at one point.
It fell just short of the greatest comeback in conference finals history, which was accomplished by Cincinnati two years ago against Kansas City after trailing by eighteen points, and by Indianapolis against New England in 2006.
The Patriots’ comeback from a 28-3 deficit to defeat Atlanta 34-28 in overtime during Super Bowl 51 stands as the only other major comeback in an NFL championship game or Super Bowl.
Teams leading by at least 17 points at the half were 107-6 overall in the playoffs prior to the Lions’ defeat.
In the previous round, San Francisco overcame a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Green Bay, making history as the sixth club to overcome deficits in the second half of both the divisional round and conference championship game.
With quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City did not play a road game in their first five postseasons.
They went on to become a formidable road act and make four Super Bowl appearances in five seasons despite it.
In the AFC championship game, the Chiefs triumphed in Baltimore after winning at Buffalo in the divisional round.
After traveling on the road for the divisional round and conference final, Kansas City will become the tenth team to win the Super Bowl if they defeat San Francisco the following week. When the Chiefs defeated the Jets and Raiders en route to the Super Bowl in 1969, they became the first team to accomplish this feat.
The Giants were the only team to accomplish it twice, in 2007 and 2011.
The Oakland Raiders in 1980, Tampa Bay in 2020, Green Bay in 2010, Pittsburgh in 2005, Denver in 1997, and Baltimore in 2012 were the only teams to accomplish it.
On championship Sunday, Mahomes safeguarded one record while breaking another.
With his final selection coming in overtime of an AFC championship game loss to Cincinnati, Mahomes became the first quarterback in history to start six straight playoff games without throwing an interception.
Six players—Joe Montana, Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Drew Brees, Jeff Hostetler, and Tony Eason—had achieved it in five consecutive postseason starts.
When Brock Purdy of San Francisco threw his first career postseason interception in a 34-31 victory over Detroit in the NFC championship game, he fell short of entering that company. According to Sportradar, Purdy’s 114 passes without an interception to begin his playoff career was the seventh longest streak.
With 163 attempts, Mahomes holds the record. Josh Allen (155), Alex Smith (119), and Jeff Hostetler (115), who has never intercepted a pass in 115 career postseason tries, are next in line.
The 49ers completed an unblemished sweep of the other playoff clubs in the NFC.
The Niners’ victory over the Detroit Lions gave them wins over the other six NFC playoff-bound clubs. The 1993 Chiefs were the last team to win both the regular season and the postseason against every other playoff club in their conference.
With their victory over Pittsburgh in the first round, San Francisco gave the 49ers victories over seven postseason-qualified opponents. In NFL history, just five other teams have accomplished that feat: the 1982 Jets, the 2007 Patriots, the 2006 Colts, the 2015 Broncos, and the 2022 Chiefs.
If San Francisco defeats the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, they will become the first club to defeat eight postseason opponents.
