The Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots won their conference championship games on Sunday afternoon, meaning both moved on to Super Bowl LI where they will square off for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Before any of the players reached this point in their football careers, however, they all began at the college level.
As such, we decided to break down the rosters of both teams by the colleges their players attended, as well as the conferences to which those schools belong. (Rosters via NFL.com.)
Some of the results were exactly what you'd expect, while others were a bit surprising. For instance, if we were to tell you that no school has more players represented than Alabama in the game, you wouldn't be shocked.
But what if I told you there was another school that had five players in the game just like Alabama, and that the school was Rutgers? Would that catch you off-guard? Because it's totally true. When these two teams show up in Houston for the game, no school will have more players on that field than Rutgers.
In fact, the Scarlet Knights have five players on active rosters, while the Crimson Tide have four on active rosters and one on a practice squad.
The Patriots seem to be especially fond of the Scarlet Knights as four of them are on New England's roster, led by defensive back Devin McCourty, while receiver Mohamed Sanu is the only Rutgers athlete playing for Atlanta.
Another fun fact about Super Bowl LI: There will be more players from South Dakota (two) than Ohio State, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas or Miami (one apiece).
Here's a breakdown of which schools have the most representatives on both the Falcons and Patriots.
Alabama - 5
Rutgers - 5
LSU - 4
Stanford - 4
Auburn - 3
Georgia - 3
Virginia - 3
Washington - 3
Arizona - 2
Boston College - 2
Clemson - 2
Connecticut - 2
Florida - 2
Florida State - 2
Georgia Tech - 2
Houston - 2
Iowa - 2
Michigan - 2
Minnesota - 2
NC State - 2
Oklahoma - 2
Oregon - 2
Oregon State - 2
Pittsburgh - 2
Purdue - 2
San Jose State - 2
South Dakota - 2
Texas A&M - 2
Texas Tech - 2
UCLA - 2
Utah - 2
Schools with one player: Abilene Christian, Air Force, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Bethune-Cookman, Boise State, Brown, BYU, California, California (PA), Colorado, Delaware, East Carolina, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Florida Atlantic, Illinois, Indiana, Kent State, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, Maryland, Memphis, Miami, Missouri, Monmouth, Navy, North Carolina A&T, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Southeast Louisiana, SMU, South Carolina, Syracuse, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, UCF, Utah State, Valdosta State, West Alabama, Wisconsin
Now, as to the matter of conference superiority, here's how it all breaks down by conference.
SEC: 25
Pac-12: 20
Big Ten: 19
ACC: 18
American: 9
Big 12: 7
Mountain West: 5
Conference USA: 2
Independents: 2
MAC: 1
FCS schools: 14
