Former Mustang Elijah Ponder Advances to Super Bowl
1/26/2026 1:08:00 PM | Football
Image Credit: Eric Canha/Imagn Images
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — If the New England Patriots win Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Elijah Ponder will become the eighth former individual with Cal Poly ties to earn a championship ring.
The Patriots, with Ponder at defensive end and/or linebacker, defeated the Denver Broncos 10-7 on a snowy Sunday afternoon at Empower Field at Mile High to claim the Lamar Hunt Trophy as champions of the American Conference of the National Football League.
New England will go for its seventh NFL championship in two weeks against the Seattle Seahawks, who beat the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in the National Conference title game.
In Sunday’s game, Ponder recovered a Denver fumble at the Broncos’ 12-yard line, setting up New England’s only touchdown late in the second quarter. That tied the game at 7-7 and the only score in the second half was a 23-yard New England field goal midway through the third period.
Ponder was a defensive end at Cal Poly from 2021-24, twice earning first-team All-Big Sky Conference honors. He also was named a Walter Camp FCS All-American in 2023 and signed an undrafted free agent contract with New England shortly after the 2025 NFL Draft.
BALL WAS OUT - GOING THE OTHER WAY??
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 25, 2026
?? CBS pic.twitter.com/swmdTx0TYV
A victory by the Patriots would place Ponder in company with linebacker Mel Kaufman, administrator Bobby Beathard, defensive back LeCharls McDaniel, wide receivers J.J. Koski and Ramses Barden, cornerback Asa Jackson and coach John Madden with Super Bowl championship rings. Numerous other former Mustangs have ties to at least one Super Bowl game.
Kaufman (who played at Cal Poly from 1977-80) played on the Washington Redskins’ Super Bowl championship teams in 1983 and 1988 and received a ring as a scout for Washington in 1991. He also played on the 1984 Redskins’ Super Bowl runner-up team.
McDaniel (1977-80) played in Super Bowl XVII in 1983 as the Redskins defeated Miami 27-17 at the Rose Bowl.
Beathard’s (1956-58) teams made seven Super Bowl appearances with four victories — twice as director of player personnel for the Redskins and twice more as general manager. He was working for the San Diego Chargers when they made their only Super Bowl appearance following the 1994 regular season, a 49-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Koski (2016-19), who played five games in a two-year career with the Los Angeles Rams, was on the practice squad in 2021 when the Rams won Super Bowl LVI, a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium.
Madden, an offensive and defensive lineman at Cal Poly in 1957 and 1958, was head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969-78, guiding his 1976 team to the Super Bowl XI championship with a 32-14 triumph over Minnesota at the Rose Bowl.
Madden never had a losing record in his 10 seasons with the Raiders and piloted his squads to eight postseason appearances and seven division titles, compiling a 112-39-7 overall record.
Barden (2005-08) played four seasons with the New York Giants, who captured the Super Bowl XLVI title with a 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in 2012. Barden never played in a playoff game but earned a championship ring after making a career-high 14 catches for 220 yards during the 2011 regular season.
Jackson’s (2008-11) six-year career with the Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers included one postseason game in which he played — a divisional-round contest following the 2012 regular season that Baltimore won, a 38-35 double-overtime decision against Denver.
The Ravens went on to beat San Francisco 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. Jackson, who did not play in that game, received a championship ring as he played in three regular season contests. Jackson was a four-time first-team All-Great West Football Conference honoree and two-time All-American at Cal Poly.
Chris Thomas (1991-92), also a wide receiver, was in the NFL for six seasons (1995-2001) with San Francisco, Washington, St. Louis and Kansas City. The 1999 St. Louis Rams beat Tennessee 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV, but Thomas played in just one NFL playoff game and that was during the 2000 season, a 31-28 first-round loss to New Orleans.
Former Mustang head coach Paul Wulff (2023-25) was a senior offensive assistant for the 49ers in 2012, a team which lost Super Bowl XLVII to Baltimore 34-31 in February 2013.
Andre Patterson, another former Mustang head coach (1994-96), was an assistant coach in the NFL for 22 seasons, seven of those teams advancing to the playoffs, but none of his squads earned a trip to the Super Bowl.
