TODAY’S SPORTSTAT — Ex-Badger Clement makes his mark in Super Bowl

BY JERRY TAPP
Former Wisconsin Badgers running back Corey Clement went from being undrafted in 2017 to being a major player for the Philadelphia Eagles. Clement had four catches for 100 yards and scored a TD for the Eagles in their 41-33 Super Bowl win over New England.

Clement’s name figures prominently in four interesting stats from that game:

1. The Eagles and Patriots tied a Super Bowl record with eight different players scoring a TD. For the Pats, Rob Gronkowski, Chris Hogan and James White (another former Badger player) scored touchdowns, while five Eagles players found the end zone, LeGarrette Blount, Corey Clement, Zach Ertz, Nick Foles and Alshon Jeffery. Eight different players scored a TD in three other Super Bowls: 1979 (Dallas-Pittsburgh), 1993 (Buffalo-Dallas) and 2004 (Carolina-New England). The 1969 Super Bowl between Baltimore and the New York Jets (won by the Jets 16-7) had only two players score a TD, Matt Snell for the Jets and Jerry Hill for Baltimore. That is the fewest number of players to score TDs in a single Super Bowl contest.
2. Clement became only the fourth rookie player in Super Bowl history to have 100 yards receiving in a Super Bowl game. He had four catches for 100 yards. The other players: Cris Collinsworth (five catches for 107 yards in 1982 for the Bengals); Torry Holt (seven catches for 109 yards in 2000 for the St. Louis Rams); and Chris Matthews (four catches for 109 yards in 2015 for the Seahawks). Only two rookie running backs have gained 100 or more yards in a Super Bowl game: Timmy Smith (22 carries for 204 yards in 1988 for Washington) and Jamal Lewis (27 carries for 102 yards in 2001 for the Ravens).
3. Of the 74 points scored in this year’s Super Bowl (41 by Philadelphia and 33 by New England), 20 of those points were scored by players who attended college at the University of Memphis. The two kickers in the game, Jake Elliott and Stephen Gostkowski both attended Memphis. Elliott had 11 points in the game, Gostkowski had nine. Here are the points scored in the game based on the colleges attended by the players who scored the 74 points in Super Bowl LII… University of Memphis, 20 (Elliott & Gostkowski); Arizona, 18 (Nick Foles & Rob Gronkowski); Wisconsin, 12 (Corey Clement & James White); Oregon, 6 (LeGarrette Blount); South Carolina, 6 (Alshon Jeffrey); Monmouth, 6, Chris Hogan); Stanford, 6 (Zach Ertz).
4. Philadelphia Eagles rookies Jake Elliott and Clement scored 17 points for the team in this year’s Super Bowl. That was the second-most points scored by a team’s rookies in a Super Bowl game since the Chicago Bears rookies (Kevin Butler, William Perry and Reggie Phillips) tallied 26 points in 1986. Only four other Super Bowl teams saw their rookies score 10 or more points in a Super Bowl game: 1995 San Francisco, 13 (William Floyd and Doug Brien); 1988 Washington, 12 (Timmy Smith); 2013 Baltimore, 10 (Justin Tucker) and 1993 Dallas, 10 (Lin Elliott). … Be sure to follow Jerry Tapp on Twitter @StatsonTapp