Mark Rypien, Washington Football Team, Washington State Cougars.
The Washington State Cougars are part of a premier football conference. They have a steady track record of sending players to the NFL. Some of them went on to the biggest stage in sports. These are the Top-6 Super Bowl Cougs.
While not every career is a Hall-of-Fame quality one, it can still have HOF moments. That statement fits Mark Rypien to a tee. His overall NFL numbers are better than average, but there is zero doubt Rypien turned in the best performance of any Washington State Cougars alumni to play in the Super Bowl.
His pro career lasted 11 seasons, but the run Rypien had from 1989 through 1992 was exceptional. In that span, he played four seasons for Washington, compiling a 39-17 record, with 12,684 yards, 79 touchdowns, 2 Pro-Bowls, and one fantastic Super Bowl performance. It’s the championship that most people associate with his career.
It was Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis, where Rypien made his bones. He threw for 292 yards, 2 touchdowns, and an interception on 18 of 32 passing. After a lackluster first quarter, the Skins put up 17 points in the second. Rypien’s big play was a 41-yard pass to Ricky Sanders, which he later followed up with a 10-yard scoring pass to Earnest Byner.
Rypien’s second touchdown pass was a beautiful 30-yard arc over the top to Gary Clark in the third quarter. That touchdown gave Washington a commanding 31-10 lead with 1:24 left in the quarter.
His team won the Lombardi Trophy, and Rypien went to Disney World as the Super Bowl MVP.
When Erik Howard came into the league as a nose tackle in 1986, the 3-4 defense was still a relatively new thing. His team, the New York Giants, took it to another level led by middle linebacker Harry Carson and outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor.
Howard’s job wasn’t necessarily to wreak havoc but rather to tie up the opposition’s interior offensive line so others could make plays. It was something he did well.
During his first trip to the Super Bowl (XXI) following the 1986 season, Howard saw action in relief of Pro Bowler Jim Burt. NYG beat Denver handily 39-20.
When he went back four years later, Howard was the starting nose tackle and All-Pro. He made five tackles in the Giants 20-19 win over Buffalo and was on the field when Bills kicker Scott Norwood pushed a final field goal attempt wide right to end the game. One other bit of trivia, Howard was the first player to win the Morris Trophy for outstanding Pac-12 lineman and a Super Bowl ring.
Selected by New England with the first overall pick in 1993, Drew Bledsoe had a fantastic NFL career. He retired after 14 NFL seasons with 44,611 passing yards (17th all-time), 251 touchdown throws (23rd), 4 Pro Bowl selections, and a Super Bowl Championship ring. Most quarterbacks fantasize about that kind of production.
Then there is the other side of Bledsoe’s career. He may go down as the Wally Pipp of the NFL through no fault of his own. In Week 2 of the 2000 season, as he ran out of bounds, Bledsoe took a crushing hit from NY Jets linebacker Moe Lewis in the fourth quarter.
The result was fractured ribs and internal bleeding, which caused him to miss the remainder of the season. His backup, an unheralded rookie sixth-round pick from Michigan, Tom Brady, came in to finish the game, and the rest is history.
Although he won his ring as Brady’s backup in Super Bowl XXVI, Bledsoe started in a Super Bowl of his own. Playing against Brett Farve and an outstanding Green Bay defense in SB XXXI, Drew didn’t have his best day. He was 25 of 48 passing for 253 yards, 2 touchdowns, 4 picks, and was sacked 5 times in a 35-21 loss.
There isn’t very much memorable about Jim Waldon’s early Washington State teams of the late 70s. That is, besides their Samoan quarterbacks, Jack Thompson and Samoa Samoa. Those passers needed someone to throw to, and that was Mike Wilson.
In the current wide-open offenses, Wilson’s career 48 receptions for 743 yards and 6 touchdowns isn’t much, but 45 years ago, it was good enough to get him to the next level. In 1978, he was among the Pac-10’s top ten for receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.
Wison is also the answer to an odd bit of Super Bowl Trivia. A speedy wide receiver who could get deep, he was part of the great 1980s San Francisco 49ers dynasty. As for the trivia, Wilson played in and won four Super Bowls but made one catch.
His lone reception came in Super Bowl XVI, a Niners 26-21 win over Cincinnati. It was a 22-yard hookup with Joe Montana and was the game’s longest play.
As the calendar turned to a new millennium, the Washington State Cougars had a revival under head coach Mike Price. Cornerbacks Jason David and Marcus Trufant were big contributors to WSU’s 2002 Rose Bowl team, and David led the Pac-10 with 7 interceptions that season.
Indianapolis drafted David in 2004 with their fourth-round pick (125th overall). Two years later, the Colts won Super Bowl XLI 29-15 over Chicago. David started at cornerback in the SB as part of a smothering pass defense that held Bears quarterback Rex Grossman to only 165 passing yards. David made a pair of tackles and had one pass defended.
Trufant and David shut down the opponent’s passing games as WSU’s starting cornerbacks in the early 2000s. His outstanding career in Pullman led to a first-round selection (11th overall) by the Seattle Seahawks in 2003.
Trufant started for the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL against Pittsburgh. Seattle’s tough secondary held the Steelers to only 158 passing yards, and Trufant made 3 tackles. But it wasn’t enough in a 21-10 loss.
Unfortunately, he hung up his cleats a year before the Legion of Boom took the NFL by storm, leading the Seahawks to a win in Super Bowl XLVIII.
Mel Hein is a bonus because the Super Bowl wasn’t a thing until 22 years after he retired. An all-time great, the center/ linebacker is enshrined in both the College Football and Pro Football Hall of Fame. Additionally, Hein is part of the NFL’s 50th, 75th, and 100th Anniversary teams.
After leaving Washington State, he was a member of the New York Giants from 1931 through 1945. During New York’s first Golden Age, Hein went to seven NFL Championship Games, winning two titles.
Please share some of your memories of Washington State Cougars alumni in the Super Bowl.