With Super Bowl XLV (45 for those less versed in the now archaic usage of Roman numerals) set to kick off in a few hours and football fans around the world choosing sides for the black and yellow or green and yellow, the Big Beast breaks down which former Big East players will be suiting up for their respective teams this evening.
Let’s start off with the Steel Curtain, the Men from the Steel City, the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is a team that hasn’t really had a substantial Big East presence on its roster in several years, despite being located in heart of Big East country. However, the Steelers do have two interesting ties to the Big East conference. For one, both the Steelers and the Pittsburgh Panthers play their home games at the beautiful Heinz Field (well the arena is beautiful, the field is often in utter disarray). Secondly, current West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart gave current Pittsburgh Steelers head coach his first coaching job, an assistant position at VMI in the early 1990s. Without further ado, here are your two Big East alums playing in Super Bowl XLV for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
William Gay – DB – Louisville
Ryan Mundy – DB – West Virginia
Now onto the Cheeseheads, the Lombardi Legends, the Green Bay Packers. Like the Steelers, the Pack Attack hasn’t boasted a robust collection of Big East players throughout the last few years…but it doesn’t mean the Packers are without a Big East influence. While I don’t have any concrete Big East-Green Bay connections, if we are really pulling for straws here, Green Bay backup QB Matt Flynn captured a national championship for LSU after Pittsburgh upset then No. 2 West Virginia…handing Flynn and the Tigers the Sears Trophy. Or we could also point to the fact that the Big East features conference members in each Super Bowl participant state (Pittsburgh – Pennsylvania, Marquette – Wisconsin). Ok, so maybe that last one was a little cheesy. Here are your Big East beasties suiting up for the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV.
Branden Underwood – DB – Cincinnati
Jason Spitz – OL – Louisville
Anthony Smith – DB – Syracuse
As you can see, Louisville has the most participants in this year’s bowl of all bowls. And that note matches up nicely with tomorrow’s review of Louisville 2010-11 recruiting class. But before I let you go watch the gratuitous amounts of commercials (which will no doubt include a varying cast of babies talking with adult voices), or check out the super-pop music tinged halftime show (the Black Eyed Peas…really?), what Super Bowl blog post would be complete without a little prediction.
Green Bay 27 – Steelers 20…who knows, maybe Big Ben makes it 3 for 3 and ascends the Stairway to 7…but I’m banking on Aaron Rodgers getting his first ring and forever removing himself from Brett Favre’s Green Bay shadow.
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