3 things for Georgia football fans to watch for in Super Bowl 53

Football fans around the world are counting down the hours to the Super Bowl 53 matchup between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams.

That’s especially true in Georgia, where Bulldogs’ fans eagerly await the pleasure of watching two of the program’s greatest running backs, Todd Gurley and Sony Michel, carry the football.

Georgia football fans can’t lose in that respect, as the school’s reputation for producing top-flight running backs — including the greatest college back of all time in Herschel Walker — is unquestioned.

“That’s such a special room, and still is to this day,” New England center and former Georgia football player David Andrews said this week. “It’s a testament to all those guys, Todd, Sony, Nick (Chubb), things they passed down.

“We’ve got some good backs, and that’s why we’re called RBU.”

It's a special room #RBU pic.twitter.com/2zy7v6DMcN
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) February 2, 2019

Here are three things Georgia football fans should keep their eyes and ears peeled for during the Super Bowl:

Former Georgia football players

The Super Bowl Sunday teams feature three starters from the Bulldogs’ program: running backs Sony Michel (New England) and Todd Gurley (Los Angeles), and center David Andrews (New England).

Former UGA Linebacker Ramik Wilson (Los Angeles) is a backup inside linebacker, and offensive tackle Isaiah Wynn (New England) is on injured reserve.

By contrast,

• Alabama has only two former players on the Super Bowl teams’ active rosters, starters Dont’a Hightower (LB, New England) and Mark Barron (LB, Los Angeles)

• Florida has three former players on tonight’s active SB rosters, starting Patriots’ OT Trent Brown and backups Duke Dawson (DB, New England) and Danta Fowler Jr. (OLB, Los Angeles). OLB Dominique Easley is on the Rams’ injured reserve.

• Auburn has three former players on the Patriots and Rams active rosters, all backups: Jonathan Jones (DB, New England), Brandon King (LB, New England) and Blake Countess (DB, Los Angeles).

• Tennessee has two former players on opposite sidelines tonight, Patriots starting kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson and backup tailback John Kelly (Los Angeles).

• Georgia Tech has just one former player on a Super Bowl roster tonight, New England offensive guard Shaq Mason.

Dawgs in the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/2I2zBpwlN6
— Isaiah Wynn (@iwynn77) February 2, 2019

Georgia Bulldogs mentions

It’s one thing for Andrews, Gurley and Michel to talk up their home school at press conferences, but it’s another for the commentators and sideline reporters to make mention.

There’s no better advertisement than live mentions during the Super Bowl.

With starting running backs on each team, along with Andrews starting for the Patriots at center, UGA could get more than its fair share of attention.

MVP presentation

The last time a running back was awarded the Super Bowl MVP trophy was in 1998, when former Georgia football running back Terrell Davis won the award.

In fact, there have only been seven running backs in Super Bowl history to win the game’s MVP award, compared with 29 quarterbacks.

With Gurley and Michel expected to receive heavy workloads, a former Georgia Bulldog could claim the award this evening after the game.