NCAA Champions and Super Bowl teams in the same state
An interesting tidbit of history that I looked into this afternoon: No Super Bowl Champion has ever won in a state where the NCAA Football Champion also won in the same season. There's been some close calls over the years, and I'm specifically looking at the overlapping season, as opposed to when the games were played within the calendar year.
Since the Super Bowl was first played for the 1966 season, two times has a team from the state of the NCAA Champ even played in the Super Bowl: in 1967 the Raiders lost to the Packers while USC won the championship outright, and in 1970 the Cowboys lost to the Colts while Texas won a shared championship with both Nebraska and Ohio State (#1 Coaches, #3 AP). Obviously, when teams like Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, or Nebraska win, they don't have a corresponding NFL team to root for within their state. And while there's certainly a shared fanbase between Texas and Dallas, I'd imagine it's much smaller for USC and Oakland given the distance. Still, neither time did the pro team win the Super Bowl.
So, our current situation this football season seems to be unique, even beyond the historical runs of our Wolverines and the Detroit Lions. If the Lions win this Sunday and find themselves in the Super Bowl, they'll only be the 3rd team ever to do it the same season as an in-state college champion (and the first in over 50 years!). If they find a way to win the whole damn thing, not only will I probably just die on the spot, but we'll be the first dual-champion ever! That the campus and team are so well-connected and within the same metro makes it extra-special. What a crazy, incredible football season.
Go Blue! One Pride!
January 26th, 2024 at 4:37 PM ^
It is a great time to be alive
January 26th, 2024 at 4:59 PM ^
Makes it very clear which is the flagship university in the state
January 26th, 2024 at 5:14 PM ^
Different shades of blue. But beautiful blue regardless. No green in sight.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
Hell yeah!
January 26th, 2024 at 4:38 PM ^
If you read the internet the super bowl has already been decided between Baltimore and San Francisco
January 26th, 2024 at 5:06 PM ^
I thought it was KC over Baltimore because the NFL wants Swifties to watch the Super Bowl.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:23 PM ^
I don’t often feel bad for Taylor Swift, but dude imagine cheering your boyfriend on, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that the camera will find you a dozen times a game, and if you don’t look 100% engaged and happy at every single moment, there will be headlines about it.
Poor girl deserves to watch a game on the couch.
And I, for one, would be extremely grateful to NOT have to put up with all the “so Taylor, what did you think of the game?” questions. Very much a “but where is Ja?!?!” situation…
January 27th, 2024 at 10:34 AM ^
Yes, but she brought the attention on herself. She's currently in the midst of a blockbuster world tour that includes a major motion picture concert film and dozens of shows at massive stadiums, each in front of sold out audiences of tens of thousands of fans. If her goal was to live a quiet, retiring life out of the spotlight and away from public attention, she's going about it all wrong. She doesn't even have to go to the games. That's a choice.
January 27th, 2024 at 2:36 PM ^
Oh yeah, she’s a cold, calculating, 24/7/365 PR machine. Knows exactly what she’s doing. That’s why I don’t often feel sorry for her.
But girl’s still human, and at this point skipping a game would generate some headlines too. So she’s caught between a rock and a hard place, and I can understand how that might get tiresome.
Also, and I cannot state this enough, I don’t want to have to deal with the inevitable “Taylor Swift halftime interview” or the post-game Swift interviews. Let the girl enjoy a moment with her boyfriend.
January 26th, 2024 at 10:36 PM ^
Read the internet? Or just watch nfl football for years? Cause even the nfl is trying to make their scripted games a joke (their commercials), but deep down they are still playing us.
January 27th, 2024 at 7:40 AM ^
Hopefully the Super Bowl is not flooded with Taylor Swift, just play football and stop the side show
January 26th, 2024 at 4:38 PM ^
I thought about this the other day. Thanks for doing the research! My feeling was this year is a unicorn for a state. If the Lions can pull off a Stupor Bowl win then our beloved state is in rarified air.
January 26th, 2024 at 4:40 PM ^
It's a long shot for the Lions to pull it off this year, so I guess we'll just have to look forward to it happening NEXT year!
January 26th, 2024 at 5:24 PM ^
Winning the Division AND a playoff game feels like we got to pet a unicorn. Winning a second playoff game was like riding that beautiful beast. I think the Detroit fan base will explode into a cloud of sparkles if the Lions win the Super Bowl.
January 26th, 2024 at 4:44 PM ^
The basketball teams are also aligned.
January 26th, 2024 at 4:49 PM ^
I was thinking that. There's a ton of memes out there that basically say the same thing depending on the person making it.
The Lions/Michigan football finally won a Super Bowl/National Championship, and all it took was sacrificing the Pistons/Michigan basketball.
Meanwhile, I am not a super follower of hockey but it kind of looks like the Red Wings and Michigan hockey are aligned as well, both well positioned to make the post season but not really make much of a run once there. But the hockey fans can correct me if I am wrong on that.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:18 PM ^
The NHL playoffs are really egalitarian. Lower seeds win playoff series all the time. Just get in and have your goalie go on a run. As opposed to the NBA...
January 26th, 2024 at 5:53 PM ^
As they were in 1989, when Wolverines and Pistons were both champions.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:55 PM ^
Didn’t Michigan and Pistons pull off the NCAA / NBA double in 1989?
January 26th, 2024 at 9:30 PM ^
Rose Bowl champs too, IIRC
January 26th, 2024 at 4:45 PM ^
After Michigan beat OSU for the third straight time, my wife said "wouldn't it be mind blowing if the Lions beat the Browns in the SuperBowl?" Indeed it would be. Maybe some day!
January 26th, 2024 at 4:50 PM ^
The Rust Belt Bonanza!
January 26th, 2024 at 5:34 PM ^
My favorite bonanza has always been of brass.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:19 PM ^
Your wife has the appropriate feel for drama. Though the Bengals would be just as good.
As always...fuck Ohio.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:56 PM ^
No, it wouldn't, as the Lions and Browns are the two oldest teams never to play in the Super Bowl. I think that was the point of the comment, not a Beat Ohio thing.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:39 AM ^
That's not exactly true for the Browns. The original Browns are currently the Baltimore Ravens. I don't care who gets to claim the history, the actual team lineage left town. The current Browns are an expansion* team from 1999. Jacksonville began in 1995, and are actually older.
*people can cite the "deactivation" all they want, to fill a roster there was an expansion draft for the team
January 26th, 2024 at 5:53 PM ^
The Lions played the Browns for the NFL championship in 1953, 1953, 1954 and 1957, and won 3 out of four.
January 26th, 2024 at 8:08 PM ^
I already looked this up:
1946 Chicago Bears NFL / Notre Dame NCAA (AP)
1947 Chicago Cardinals NFL / Notre Dame NCAA (AP)
1952 Detroit Lions NFL / MSU NCAA (AP, UPI)
1976 Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburg Panthers NCAA (AP, UPI)
I consider Notre Dame close enough to Chicago though not in the same state.
January 26th, 2024 at 9:32 PM ^
Notre Dame is in Indiana
Therefore, to Hell with Notre Dame
January 27th, 2024 at 12:44 AM ^
Your wife makes interesting and relevant comments while you watch football games? Thats amazing. Tell me more about this.
My wife just sits there and reads a book.
January 26th, 2024 at 4:48 PM ^
Of course, in the men's basketball, in 1989 Michigan won the NCAA championship and the Pistons won the NBA championship. This has also happened a few times for California with UCLA and the Lakers, not sure of any other examples.
January 26th, 2024 at 4:59 PM ^
True true, plus the Wings/UM Hockey in 98. Wasn't even thinking about other sports but there's definitely other examples there.
January 27th, 2024 at 10:55 AM ^
I think UCLA/Lakers only pulled it off once (1972). The Lakers’ big periods of success mostly happened after the Wooden era.
January 26th, 2024 at 4:50 PM ^
When the Lions win the peeples in Vegas are gonna put their "oh shit" hats on and prepare like Florida does for a hurricane.
January 26th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
A lot of firsts - with impacts on precedence. I believe that Lee Corso picked Michigan to win the NC game against Washington.
The world is changing - Go Lions…
January 27th, 2024 at 12:47 AM ^
I think he had Michigan over Bama in the Rose Bowl too. I know, crazy right?
January 26th, 2024 at 4:58 PM ^
I was thinking about this the other day, as well! If it does happen, I hope someone creates a "Football Runs Through Michigan" shirt/hoodie. My vision for the shirt would be the state of Michigan in the background with both teams logos over their respective trophies and the verbiage under the state. I would love to see a prototype from some of you creative types out there.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:00 PM ^
I don't have much of it but please take my money.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:06 PM ^
Minor quibble: the football national championship is not awarded by the NCAA. The CFP is run by the conferences and the NY6 bowls, not by the NCAA. The NCAA doesn't award a championship of any kind at the FBS level (they do in FCS and lower divisions, however). That's why, in contrast with basketball, the football championship is only referred to as the "National Championship" and not the "NCAA Championship" or "NCAA National Championship."
January 26th, 2024 at 5:36 PM ^
Does that mean they have no jurisdiction on the CFP?
January 26th, 2024 at 6:05 PM ^
They do insofar as regulation is concerned. The CFP games are subject to the NCAA's rules and compliance regime just like the championship tournament of any other collegiate sport. But unlike March Madness (for example) the CFP isn't actually run by the NCAA. Unlike the NCAA Tournament selection committee, The CFP selection committee isn't employed by the NCAA.
January 27th, 2024 at 12:55 AM ^
Replace NCAA with College. That’s more what I meant.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:19 PM ^
This is great work, OP! Texas' and Ohio's 1970 championship is because the Coaches' and NFF Polls were before the bowls back then. Nebraska won their bowl game, and their only blemish was a tie at USC. Further, SoCal didn't have Raiders fans back then. The Lions have a chance to really do something special here.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:28 PM ^
It would be even more impressive seeing we have only one NFL team and only one major NCAA team in Michigan.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:40 PM ^
If it's not in the same state, I'm rooting for it being in the same family.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:51 PM ^
Oh man, a Ravens-Lions SB would be a Harbaugh double or a Michigan double. Both have to be unprecedented!
January 26th, 2024 at 5:49 PM ^
More likely there will be a Harbaugh Double. Don’t see anyone beating the Ravens.
January 26th, 2024 at 5:55 PM ^
January 26th, 2024 at 5:57 PM ^
Pittsburgh came pretty close. The Steelers won the Super Bowl in January 1976 (1975 season) and the Pitt Panthers were NC in the 1976 season.
January 27th, 2024 at 12:57 AM ^
Tennessee was the other close one I found in the late 90’s. One season off. Ofc Titans didn’t win then either but they were 2 yards away at least.