Nebraska leads the way with 20-year Super Bowl streak

Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

This year's Super Bowl will feature players from Prairie View A&M (Baltimore's Adrian Hamilton), New Hampshire (Baltimore's Core Graham), Central Missouri (San Francisco's Delanie Walker) and, of course, Alabama (Baltimore's Courtney Upshaw and Terrence Cody).

The game will also include a former punter from Nebraska (Baltimore's Sam Koch), marking the 20th year in a row the Cornhuskers will have a player participating in the NFL's deciding game – the longest such streak of any school in college football, according to a survey of college sports information directors compiled by Dan Apple, the assistant director of communications for the University of Florida's football program.

Nebraska's streak is six years longer than its next-closest competitors, Notre Dame and Purdue. Rounding out the top 10 are Ohio State, LSU, Georgia and Illinois (12 years in a row), Florida (11), Iowa (10) and Texas (eight).

Texas has had at least one player participate in 29 of the 47 Super Bowls, including four in this year's game: Baltimore's Chykie Brown and Justin Tucker and the 49ers' Tarell Brown and Leonard Davis.

At least one ex-Penn State player has been in 42 of the 47 Super Bowls – San Francisco has linebackers Navarro Bowman and Nate Stupar – and 35 former players have won a ring; most recently, former Nittany Lions Kareem McKenzie and Jimmy Kennedy did so with the New York Giants last February.

But in terms of an active streak, it's Nebraska by a wide margin. The ex-Cornhuskers who make up the program's run, dating back to Super Bowl XXVIII, when Dallas beat Buffalo 30-13:

1994 (Buffalo-Dallas): TE Nate Turner, Bills.

1995 (San Diego-San Francisco): DT John Parrella, Chargers.

1996 (Dallas-Pittsburgh): OG Brenden Stai and LB Donta Jones, Steelers.

1997 (Green Bay-New England): CB Tyrone Williams and RB Calvin Jones, Packers.

1998 (Denver-Green Bay): S Tony Veland and DE Neil Smith, Broncos; CB Tyrone Williams, Packers.

1999 (Atlanta-Denver): CB Michael Booker, Falcons; DE Neil Smith, Broncos.

2000 (Tennessee-St. Louis): LB Doug Colman, Titans; DE Grant Wistrom, Rams.

2001 (Baltimore-New York Giants): DT Christian Peter, Giants.

2002 (New England-St. Louis): DE Grant Wistrom, Rams.

2003 (Oakland-Tampa Bay): C Adam Treu, LB Eric Johnson and DT John Parrella, Raiders.

2004 (Carolina-New England): S Mike Minter, Panthers; OG Russ Hochstein and DE Mike Rucker, Patriots.

2005 (New England-Philadelphia): OG Russ Hochstein, Patriots.

2006 (Pittsburgh-Seattle): K Josh Brown and DE Grant Wistrom, Seahawks.

2007 (Chicago-Indianapolis): S Mike Brown, Bears.

2008 (New England-New York Giants): OG Russ Hochstein and DT Le Kevin Smith, Patriots.

2009 (Arizona-Pittsburgh): CB Ralph Brown, Cardinals.

2010 (Indianapolis-New Orleans): LB Cody Glenn, Colts; OG Carl Nicks and LB Scott Shanle, Saints.

2011 (Green Bay-Pittsburgh): RB Brandon Jackson, Packers.

2012 (New England-New York Giants): CB Prince Amukamara, Giants.

2013 (Baltimore-San Francisco): P Sam Koch, Ravens.

With 31 ex-Cornhuskers currently on NFL rosters – and a few more set to join the league in 2013 – Nebraska's streak has a good shot at staying alive for the foreseeable future.