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If you just can’t get enough SEC football – and who can? – take heart because there’s still a chance to live vicariously through a couple of former top SEC quarterbacks all the way to the Super Bowl.
Former Auburn QB Cam Newton and former Tennessee QB Peyton Manning will lead their respective teams on Sunday into the NFL conference championship games. A victory from each would ensure an All-SEC quarterback battle at the 50th Super Bowl on Feb. 7.
Newton leads the Carolina Panthers as they host the Arizona Cardinals and QB Carson Palmer, in the NFC Championship Game. Amazingly, it’s the first time in NFL history that two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks will meet as starters in the playoffs.
Newton won the Heisman Trophy in 2010 while leading Auburn to the national championship. Palmer won it in 2002 with the USC Trojans.
Manning, who finished second in the 1997 Heisman Trophy balloting to Michigan’s Charles Woodson, leads the Denver Broncos on Sunday as they host the New England Patriots and QB Tom Brady in the AFC Championship Game.
Both Newton and Manning were No. 1 overall draft picks coming out of college. (So was Palmer; Brady was No. 199, as we all know.) Newton came out of nowhere to blossom at Auburn in the Tigers’ march to the national title. That year he led the SEC and was third in the nation, rushing and passing for 4,327 total yards. He led the SEC in rushing (1,473 yards) and led the nation with 50 touchdowns in one of the most incredible dual-threat seasons ever.
He’s reliving that season somewhat this year. Newton has led the Panthers to a NFL-best 16-1 season so far, rushing and passing for 4,473 yards and 45 touchdowns. The Panthers are the NFL’s top-scoring team, averaging 31.2 points per game and Newton is the odds-on favorite to win the NFL Most Valuable Player award.
Manning’s success was longer-lived at Tennessee. A four-year starter, he ranks fifth all-time in the SEC in total yards with 11,020. The pocket passer accumulated all of those through the air. He led the SEC in total yards in 1997 with 3,789. That same year, Manning led the Vols to the SEC championship. Manning never won a national championship at Tennessee, finishing as high as third in the nation in 1995. Tennessee won a national title the year after he left.
The 39-year-old Manning, in his 17th NFL season, missed the latter part of this season with an foot injury but returned to full strength last week in leading the Broncos to a 23-16 divisional playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. For the season, Manning has thrown for 2,249 yards and nine touchdowns.
If all goes well, Manning and Newton could meet for all the marbles. Newton’s Panthers have won 12 consecutive home games and are playing host to the NFC championship game for the first time in franchise history.
Manning will have the unenviable task of trying to lead a Broncos team to a second win over the Patriots this season. Beating them once is tough enough. Manning’s foot injury prevented him from playing in Denver’s 30-24 overtime victory on Nov. 29.
So, technically, the SEC season isn’t quite over just yet. Two of its greatest quarterbacks are still playing in the NFL’s biggest games of the 2015 season.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
