The NFL season ends this weekend with Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara. Many believe we could be looking again at a record television audience, of 130 million viewers or more.
As many as 80% of Americans plan to tune in for at least part of the game, up five percent from last year.
Both WVU and Marshall have been represented relatively well in Super Bowl history, but don’t have an active player involved this season. That gives me a chance to pull out a few fun facts and a minor controversy related to local college players and the big game.
Among former Mountaineer and Thundering Herd players, Marshall’s Troy Brown leads the way with the most total Super Bowl rings and appearances. Brown was a member of the Pats’ first three Super Bowl-winning teams (XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX) and played in six Super Bowls.
And much like in his final season at Marshall, Brown was an NFL version of a Swiss army knife, playing wide receiver, but also seeing action at times on defense and special teams.
Brown was clutch at crunch time. He was instrumental in two Super Bowl game-winning drives by the Patriots, First, in Super Bowl XXXVI, a crucial final minute 23-yard catch against the Rams, to help upset the so-called “Greatest Show on Turf” and again in Super Bowl XXXVIII, with three grabs on the final drive to defeat the Carolina Panthers. Brown still holds the NFL record for the most career punt returns in the Super Bowl with eight.
In the 59 previous Super Bowls, there have been 550 total kickoffs. But Martinsburg’s Fulton Walker was the first ever to return one for a touchdown. Walker’s 98-yard kickoff return for a score was just part of the story that day against Washington in Super Bowl XVII. Walker had four kickoff returns for 190 yards, for an average of 47.5 yard per return, both are still Super Bowl records.
When a kickoff is returned for a touchdown in the NFL, the odds of winning that game are more than seventy percent. Ironically however, in the Super Bowl, seven of the ten kickoff return scores have come from the losing team, including Walker’s Dolphins in 1983.
Wheeling’s Chuck Howley remains a singular figure in NFL history, as the only player to be named Super Bowl MVP from a losing team. The former Mountaineer was also the first defensive player and the first non-quarterback ever to win the award for his effort in Super Bowl V.
The game between the Colts and Cowboys is often known as the”Blunder Bowl” or the “Blooper Bowl” due to its eleven combined turnovers, but Howley performance stands out, as he intercepted two passes and forced a fumble in the Cowboys’ 16–13 loss to the Baltimore Colts.
At first, Howley didn’t believe he had won the MVP and that it “meant nothing” to him because Dallas had lost. He reportedly only accepted the award because it came with a car. Howley’s his son Scott later remembered thinking the family story would be getting a flashy Dodge Charger, but ended up with a wood-paneled station wagon instead.
Finally, a case can be made that perhaps a second Mountaineer deserved a Super Bowl MVP.
Jeff Hostetler was the quarterback for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV’s 20-19 win over the Bills. Giants running back Ottis Anderson got the MVP, after rushing for 102 rushing yards and touchdown — an outstanding game to be sure.
But here’s the case for the Hoss. Hostetler completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards, a touchdown with no interceptions. When Hostetler is sacked in the end zone for safety in the first half by Buffalo’s Bruce Smith, he managed to hold onto the ball with one hand, preventing a certain touchdown for the Bills. Hoss managed a Giants offense that had the ball for a Super Bowl record 40 minutes and 33 seconds, keeping the Bills’ high-powered “K-Gun” offense off the field.
By the way, through the first 59 Super Bowls, 34 MVP awards have gone to quarterbacks, including in 7 of the last 9 years. Since Anderson’s MVP for the Giants in 1991, only two other running backs have won the award in last 30 years.
Just some food for thought, when you are kicking back and watching the big game this weekend.