Everything You Need to Know About Super Bowl 50
By Emily Young MA ‘16
Missed the game? Don’t care about football? Had too much homework? Here’s everything you need to know about the game to be a functioning member of American society.
Super Bowl is an American holiday celebrating football. Fans gather to eat junk food, make ridiculous bets, and enjoy some of the best commercials of all time. Follow along as I give you a condensed recap of the game.
Super Bowl 50 was held at Levi Stadium in San Francisco, where USC played Stanford for the PAC-12 Championship this year. The Denver Broncos, the AFC Champions faced the NFC Champs, the Carolina Panthers. ….if you just want to know the score, that’s at the bottom…. To start the action, NBA star Stephen Curry helped the Panthers out onto the field by pounding their “keep on pounding” drum. Apparently he’s a diehard fan and he wears a Panthers patch on his sleeve while playing.
From the start it was crystal clear that the battle about to transpire is old school vs. new school. Both Peyton Manning (Broncos QB) and Cam Newton (Panther’s QB) are great Quarterbacks. Both were #1 draft picks, but Manning is a veteran, poised, soft spoken, and gracious whereas Newton is an aggressive runner and playmaker and the first to celebrate. Many were rooting for Manning because they prefer his attitude towards the game.
The national anthem sung by Lady Gaga sparked the first of the Super Bowl controversy and surprisingly, it was not over her outfit.
The controversy was over a Vegas prop bet
whether the Gaga’s version of the national anthem would be over or under 2
minutes and 20 seconds. Gaga repeated
the line the brave for emphasis ending at 2:21.
However, Bovada, a popular betting outlet, paid the under betters saying
the song ended at the first brave at 2:09.
The next prop bet comes with the coin toss flipped by Joe Montana. The Panthers call was tails and the coin flip falls tails. The Panthers chose to defer and Denver started the game receiving. Oh wait commercial….
To start the game, the Broncos kicked a field goal; making it the first time the Panthers had trailed in the post season. And things only got worse for the Panthers. The Panthers unsuccessfully challenged a controversial call on the Cotchery catch to give them a gain of 24.
The ruling stayed incomplete and they lost a time out. Then came a big play from Denver’s Von Miller. Newton was stripped of the ball for a defensive touchdown.
10-0 Denver end of the first quarter. …..and Commercial.
The Panthers come out strong in the second quarter with a leaping touchdown from Stewart who proceeds to celebrate by doing the hand drive.
However, the tides quickly change. Bronco punt returner, Norwood, catches the ball and ran it down the field 61 yards for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history. It appeared that the Panther’s thought he signaled for a fair catch, but he didn’t. Denver scored with a field goal.
13-7 Denver. Halftime
This year’s halftime performance was by Coldplay with guests Bruno Mars and Beyoncé. Coldplay went for a colorful San Francisco tie-dye vibe and opened up with Viva La Vida. As children musicians slowly filling the stage Coldplay transitioned to Paradise and then to their latest hit Adventure of a Lifetime. Bruno Mars sang hit Uptown Funk and Beyoncé hit the scene with Formation. A collaborative mix and dance off transpired between the two groups and then Coldplay rejoined the two with Fix You and a tribute to the other great Super Bowl halftime performances. Here’s a picture of the finale.
So at this point we are two and a half hours into Super Bowl. I’ve eaten plenty of snack foods and well the game gets a little boring. Interesting fact for you though, a USC Trojan has been in 45/50 Super Bowls. Pretty cool right? All I have to report about the third quarter is that the Broncos scored another field goal.
16-7 Denver. End of the third. Watch this weird commercial.
After a controversial no flag call on a fumble, the Panthers are forced to kick a field goal bring the game 16-10 at the beginning of the 4th and final quarter. Broncos player Von Miller, SPOILER (he was named Super Bowl 50 MVP), strips the ball AGAIN setting up the Broncos to score another touchdown by Anderson.
The Broncos go for two and Fowler gets it bringing the score 22-10 Denver. At this point the game is pretty much over. Newton gets sacked again, the 11th sack of the game, a new all time Super Bowl high. The Broncos get the ball back and could not get in field goal range. With around 2 minutes left Peyton Manning walks off the field in an iconic way. Most are assuming this will be his last game, he’s “run out the clock.” The game is his 200th win, just one more than Brett Favre. He was gracious in his post game speech, but did not officially announce if it was his last game.
Although some might say the game was low scoring and not very exciting, it was truly a great defensive game.
Final Score: 22-10 Denver Wins
and my favorite commercial goes to:
Want more from Trojans 360?
Visit Trojans 360 on Facebook & Twitter to stay up to date with more student content!
Check out our Instagram, where we feature a week in the life of a USC student each week!
Trojans 360 is USC’s official student-run blog. Content created by students, for students.
