Christian McCaffrey breaks Rose Bowl record for all-purpose yards

Stanford throttled Iowa 45-16 to win the Rose Bowl this evening, not surprisingly thanks in large part to the exploits of sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey. He continued to dominate all day, setting a Rose Bowl record for total yards with 368 and became the first player in Rose Bowl annals with over 100 yards rushing (172) and receiving (105).

Defensively, the Cardinal held the Hawkeyes to 48 rushing yards while sacking Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard seven times and returning an interception for a touchdown. Less than a minute into the game, McCaffrey scored on a 75-yard touchdown catch, and later returned a punt 66 yards for his second score to give Stanford and early 28-0 lead over the Hawkeyes.

McCaffrey’s performance in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual got off to an auspicious start. DeShone Kizer pushed in a one-yard run 29 ticks before the break to pull the Irish to within 28-14, creating a loop where Notre Dame was never really out of the game, but Ohio State was never really threatened, either.

Stanford scores in Rose Bowl.

McCaffrey scored on a 63-punt return in the second quarter, leaving would-be tacklers grasping at air, and would have scored a rushing touchdown as well, if not for a Stanford holding penalty that wiped an 81-yard score off the board.

“We don’t try to make statements, we want to play good football”, Shaw said.

Hogan bent over as if he had fumbled while dropping back to pass, causing the aggressive Iowa defensive backs to move toward the line of scrimmage.

Kevin Hogan passed for 223 yards and three TDs in his final game for the Cardinal (12-2), who won the Rose Bowl for the second time in three trips over the past four years for this unlikely football powerhouse. But linebackers Blake Martinez and Peter Kalambayi sacked Beathard for a 6-yard loss on fourth down with 2:01 remaining.

While Carroll stumped for a plus-one or a playoff, which was finally adopted for the 2014 season, Shaw is firmly in favor of an expanded field of six or eight teams.

Stan: Rector 31 pass from Hogan (Ukropina kick), 8:22.

Iowa avoided a shutout on Marshall Koehn’s 39-yard field goal late in the third quarter, prompting huge cheers and a confetti shower from the Hawkeyes’ band. He quickly gather himself and tossed an easy 31-yard touchdown strike to receiver Michael Rector.

The faithful had painfully little to cheer after Iowa fell behind in the opening seconds, putting a daylong damper on Kirk Ferentz’s first Rose Bowl after 17 years as a head coach.

The Cardinal needed one play to extinguish Iowa’s vaunted defense.