Jan. 4, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer will have the distinction during the upcoming NFL playoffs of being the only collegiate coach who will have two of his former quarterbacks starting playoff games.

His 2007 Heisman Trophy winner at Florida, Tim Tebow, will lead the Denver Broncos into their 4:30 p.m. game Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round of the AFC Playoffs. Tebow threw for 1,729 yards and 12 touchdowns this season and rushed for 660 yards and six touchdowns.

And Meyer’s No. 1 overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft out of Utah, Alex Smith, will lead his 49ers into a divisional round NFC playoff game next week. Smith threw for 3,150 yards and 17 touchdowns this season to lead San Francisco to a 13-3 record and the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.

The list of starting quarterbacks for the NFL Playoffs, with college attended and coach(es):

National Football Conference
Green Bay Packers – Aaron Rodgers (Cal; Jeff Tedford)
San Francisco 49ers – Alex Smith (Utah; Ron McBride/Urban Meyer)
New Orleans – Drew Brees (Purdue; Joe Tiller)
New York Giants – Eli Manning (Ole Miss; David Cutcliffe)
Atlanta – Matt Ryan (Boston College; Tom O’Brien/Jeff Jagodzinski)
Detroit – Matthew Stafford (Georgia; Mark Richt)

American Football Conference
New England – Tom Brady (Michigan; Lloyd Carr)
Baltimore – Joe Flacco (Pittsburgh; Walt Harris; Delaware; K.C. Keeler)
Houston – Matt Schaub (Virginia; George Welsh/Al Groh) or T.J. Yates (North Carolina; Butch Davis)
Denver – Tim Tebow (Florida; Urban Meyer)
Pittsburgh – Ben Roethlisberger (Miami, Ohio; Terry Hoeppner)
Cincinnati – Andy Dalton (TCU; Gary Patterson)