Top 5 Husky Performances in the Super Bowl
Corey Dillon ran the ball for just one season with the University of Washington football team, spent only a lone quarter on campus and he may or may not have visited a classroom.
At least he knew where the end zone was.
The mercurial Dillon, who attended three junior colleges and treated the UW like it was a bus stop, went on to enjoy all the spoils of a successful NFL career, getting paid well, setting records and winning a Super Bowl.
He's still waiting on the Pro Football Hall of Fame and, with 11,241 rushing yards and 89 touchdowns in 10 seasons, who's to say that won't happen?
For now, Dillon can celebrate the fact that he's turned in the top performance of any UW-turned-NFL veteran in the biggest game on the planet.
Forty-two Huskies have played in the Super Bowl and 21 have won it.
We break down the top 5 performances for guys who spent time in Montlake, beginning with Dillon's big day in 2005:
1) Corey Dillon
At Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Florida, the Seattle native crashed into the end zone from 2 yards out, putting New England ahead for good at 21-14 on the third play of the fourth quarter. The Patriots eventually beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. Yes, the ageless Tom Brady was on the other end of that handoff. And it was the first Super Bowl touchdown by a one-time Husky, the first of three.
For Dillon, it was just part of his 18-carry, 75-yard rushing effort, combined with a 3-catch, 31-yard output, that afternoon that kept the Eagles at arm's length.
Always a little controversial, the physical back thought it was probably enough to put him over the top for induction in Canton, Ohio. He later made an interesting and compelling argument.
"You've got O.J. Simpson in the Hall of Fame and my numbers are better than his," Dillon told Patriots reporters. "Why can't I be there is my question? What validates him being there and I'm not? I'm not talking about his transgressions off the field; that's on him."
2) Jermaine Kearse
The wide receiver from Lakewood, Washington, possesses the single-most spectacular catch by a former UW player in a Super Bowl, and one of the greatest by anyone.
At the end of Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Kearse was lying on his back when he juggled and deftly hauled in a 33-yard pass from Russell Wilson, setting up the Seahawks on the New England 5-yard line. Unfortunately, his heroics did not prevent a 28-24 Patriots' victory in Glendale, Arizona.
"How did I catch it? It's like, honestly, I don't know," Kearse told the New York Times. "I mean, it's not like a normal catch. I remember seeing the ball bounce around and I just tried to grab it. I couldn't even explain it to you how I caught some other catches. There's been balls that I caught where you look at the picture and my eyes are closed."
Kearse finished 3 catches for 45 yards that day. The year before, he came off the bench for the Seahawks and caught 4 balls for 65 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown in Seattle's 43-8 beatdown of the Denver Broncos in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
He's one of just four former Huskies to catch Super Bowl passes, joined by tight end Jerramy Stevens, who had 3 receptions for 25 yards and a TD for the Seahawks in a 21-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL; tight end Ernie Conwell, who caught a pass for 16 yards for the St. Louis Rams in a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta; and Dillon's 3 receptions in Super Bowl XXXIX.
3) Chris Chandler
In 55 Super Bowls, just one former Husky quarterback has started and had the game-long keys to the huddle and the offense, with the Everett, Washington, product calling the shots for the Atlanta Falcons in 1999.
While he came up on the short end of a 34-19 defeat to the Denver Broncos and quarterback John Elway — who was born in Port Angeles, Washington — Chandler nonetheless played his way onto the biggest stage in football at Super Bow XXXIII.
When it was over in Miami, Chandler completed 19 of 35 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown, but he was intercepted three times and sacked twice.
"I could sit here and try to explain a lot of things, but going through it again sounds like excuse-making," he said in a post-game interview. "It wasn't a really lucky night for us tonight. Hopefully, we'll do this again in our home stadium next year. Being satisfied this year, considering where we came from, that's OK right now. But we can't stop here."
In his 17-year NFL career, Chandler would have to call this 1999 game the highlight. The only thing better would have been to win it.
4) Cory Littleton
The former Husky linebacker did everything for the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII two years ago in Atlanta except walk away victorious.
In a defensive struggle won by New England 13-3, Littleton collected 10 tackles — more than any other ex-UW player who's participated in the big game — and he intercepted a deflected Tom Brady pass on the first series of the game — the only UW defender to have a Super Bowl pass theft.
"I read the quarterback, I moved towards it, [Nickell] Robey-Coleman tipped it in the air and I caught it," said Littleton, part of defense able to confuse Brady a little. "That's what you always try to do. He's normally the best at allowing it not to happen. It was messing him up. We were doing something right."
5) Dashon Goldson
The free safety from Los Angeles played for horrible UW football teams for coaches Keith Gilbertson and Tyrone Willingham that went 1-11, 2-9 and 5-7 in 2004-06, with his talents going to waste amid all that losing.
Luckily, the NFL was far kinder to him, with Goldson's 10-year pro career bringing him a Super Bowl XLVII appearance in 2013.
In New Orleans, Goldson was all over the field for the San Francisco 49ers and accumulated 9 tackles — second only to Littleton's total among ex-Husky players in the big game. Unfortunately, his aggressive efforts weren't quite enough to prevent the Baltimore Ravens from winning 34-31.
Goldson entered the game carrying the reputation of being the hardest-hitting safety in the NFL and he seemed to live up to it on his big day.
"So they say," he responded, when asked about his violent style. 'It feels good to hit but it feels better when they get back up because I'm never trying to kill nobody. At the same time, I definitely want to make my presence felt."
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