For a game featuring two superstar quarterbacks that went down to the last tension-filled, nail-biting seconds, Super Bowl XLVI was surprisingly short on superstar advertisers.

Derek Rucker, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management who annually studies the quality of Super Bowl ads, said the average quality of Sunday's spots was good, but he didn't see as many standout spots as in previous years.

"There was less variance this year," Rucker said. "We didn't see ads that blew me away, but we didn't see any failures that really offended people."

Rucker's group studies spots from the standpoint of brand advancement, so his study gave high marks to M&Ms' Miss Brown character, to Dannon's Greek yogurt ("Who doesn't like seeing John Stamos get punched?" he said) and to other groups that focused on a single ad like Honda's Ferris Bueller homage with Matthew Broderick and Skechers with Mr. Quigley the dog and Mark Cuban the billionaire.

He was less impressed with Clint Eastwood's ad for Chrysler, a follow-up to last year's Eminem ad for the brand, because it focused less on the brand and more on the economy.

"It was a great ad for America as opposed to a great ad for Chrysler," he said.

His group also was unimpressed with Century 21 (Donald Trump), (Danica Patrick and Jillian Michaels) and with Budweiser's Bud Light Platinum brand launch.

From one reviewer's perspective, here are five ads that worked as entertainment and that left the viewer with a positive impression of the product they were designed to represent.

1 Chrysler: Halftime in America. Last year, Chrysler used Eminem to tout the revival of the U.S. car industry. In this political year, Eastwood growled out a non-partisan pep talk for teamwork and comebacks. What's not to like?

1 Volkswagen, The Dog Strikes Back. It's a story within a story, with a rotund dog dieting off the weight so he can chase cars, leading into a Star Wars cantina homage featuring Darth Vader, Volkswagen's spokesman from a year ago.

1 Doritos, Man's Best Friend. Cat lovers may object, but such is the power of junk food that it can drive a good dog to crime and make a good man subject to temptation and prevarication. Doritos' slingshot baby/granny combo was a good one, too.

1 Acura NXS, Transactions. Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, who are car collectors in their own right, nudge out Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller for the Honda CR-V for the best comedy car spot. I think the Soup Nazi may have put Acura over the top. Soup for everybody!

1 Audi, Vampires. Yes, vampires are so very, very 2009. But it was kinda fun watching them go kablooey on camera.

And here are five spots that didn't advance the art of creative advertising and didn't do a lot to promote brand loyalty for established customers or create positive impressions for new ones.

1, Feel the Free. Just what you want to see during an event that prompts eating and drinking: a kid apparently urinating in a swimming pool. It just goes to show there are three certainties in life: death, taxes and potty humor.

1, Body Paint. Danica Patrick: Nudge, nudge. Jillian Michaels: Grin, grin. Unclad model: Wink, wink. Body paint: Leer, leer. Total package: Say no more, say no more. Seriously. Please, Say no more.

1 Teleflora, Adriana Lima I think the implication here is that one can obtain physical gratification in exchange for things of value. I think they have a word for this sort of transaction, and it's illegal in most states.

1 Bud Light, Platinum. A boring Budweiser commercial? Followed by another boring Budweiser commercial? For that most useful of items, a glamorous diet beer? Say it ain't so, Bud.

1 General Electric, Turbines. Yes, let's hear it for American industry. But why does industry have to be boring?

Dishonorable mention: Jack in the Box, Marry the Bacon. This may have been more of a regional time buy than a national ad. But wherever it aired, it was real oinker.