The NFL playoffs are down to the final four teams, and Penn State is still heavily represented with six players on those rosters.
In the NFC, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play the Green Bay Packers in next week’s championship game. And in the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs will play the Buffalo Bills. This is the playoff schedule.
These are the Penn State players who will be part of those conference championship matchups.
NFC: Buccaneers vs. Packers
Buccaneers: WR Chris Godwin and LT Donovan Smith; also C A.Q. Shipley is on injured reserve
Packers: S Adrian Amos
AFC: Chiefs vs. Bills
Chiefs: OL Stefen Wisniewski
Bills: OL Ryan Bates
Since there is at least one player on each of the four remaining teams, PSU will have an alum play in the Super Bowl for the 50th time in the game’s 55-year existence.
Penn State ranks fifth among all colleges in producing the most players who have gone on to play in a Super Bowl.
Through last season, 110 former Lion football players had reached a Super Bowl. The only programs that have produced more are:
1: Miami (122); 2; USC (120); 3: Michigan (114); 4: UCLA (112); 5. Penn State (110).
There’s an asterisk in there, too, since former Penn State lacrosse player Chris Hogan also played in two Super Bowls for the Patriots. So that would put the total number of PSU products to get to a Super Bowl at 112, which is what the school itself lists.
This is from Penn State’s release about the program’s NFL representation:
On 49 different occasions, Penn State has been represented in the Super Bowl. Last season, the Nittany Lions had a league-high five alumni on the 53-man rosters of the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. The five alumni in the Super Bowl are the most for the Nittany Lions since Super Bowl XXXV (2001). Former Penn State offensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski and defensive back Jordan Lucas earned the victory in last year’s game. Forty-one Nittany Lions have claimed 60 Super Bowl rings (including non-Penn State football players).
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