Colin Kaepernick will have a lot of history looking down upon him on Sunday as his San Francisco 49ers take on the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl.
Kaepernick not only has to live up to the San Francisco 49ers' perfect 5-0 record in Super Bowls, the former Nevada Wolf Pack quarterback also has to protect the perfect 3-0 record by former Western Athletic Conference quarterbacks in the NFL's championship game.
Kaepernick will be the fourth former WAC quarterback to start in the Super Bowl after BYU's Steve Young, Fresno State's Trent Dilfer and BYU's Jim McMahon.
McMahon led the Chicago Bears to a 46-10 victory in Super Bowl XX on Jan. 26, 1986 at the Louisiana Superdome, the same place Kaepernick and the 49ers will meet the Ravens. McMahon completed 12-of-20 passes for 256 yards and also became the first quarterback in Super Bowl history to score two rushing touchdowns in the game (two, one yard).
Young led the 49ers past the San Diego Chargers 49-26 on Jan. 29, 1995 at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium in Super Bowl XXIX. Young, in one of the greatest Super Bowl performances in history, completed 24-of-36 passes for 325 yards and a record six touchdowns passes. He also became the first player in Super Bowl history to lead both teams in passing yards and rushing yards (49) in the same game.
Dilfer led the Ravens past the New York Giants 34-7 on Jan. 28, 2001 in Super Bowl XXV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Dilfer completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley for a 7-0 lead and finished the game with 153 yards passing and completed 12-of-25.
Young and Dilfer are currently NFL analysts for ESPN.
Kaepernick had the best college career of all the former WAC Super Bowl quarterbacks. The ex-Pack quarterback threw for 10,098 yards and 82 touchdowns and compiled 14,210 yards of total offense His 59 rushing touchdowns are a WAC record.
Young passed for 7,737 yards (8,817 total offense yards) and 56 touchdowns from 1981-83. Dilfer passed for 6,635 yards and 51 touchdowns from 1992-93 and McMahon passed for 9,536 yards and 84 touchdowns with 9,723 yards of total offense from 1977-80.
