Rose Bowl: Stanford standout shines

Stanford (12-2) complemented McCaffrey’s performance with stout defense and two big plays.

I will stand behind Christian McCaffrey being the best player in the nation and he deserved the Heisman Trophy. The fifth-ranked Cardinal overwhelmed the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes in all aspects of the Rose Bowl and won, 45-16, in front of 94,268. He had 172 yards rushing, 105 yards receiving and 91 on kick returns, putting an appropriate cap on the season in which he set the NCAA record for all-purpose yards. With NFL coordinators coveting dynamic players in the passing game, McCaffrey’s performance will pique the interest of scouts looking for a versatile game changer in the backfield. Not many people got to see him besides the west coast/Pac 12 fans and the hardcore college football fans, such as myself But little did everybody know that they were missing out on possibly, in my opinion, the greatest athlete to hit the field in my 19-years of being on God’s Green Earth.

As the Cardinal went through the paces in the second half and protected its massive lead, its thoughts might have drifted back to a dreary September afternoon in Evanston, Ill.

The content of their shows always makes showing the Stanford band on live TV a bit of an adventure, and ESPN’s response was to show them briefly and then zoomed out to a really wide blimp shot for a chunk of the show.

No spot in the College Football Playoff?

“That more of a question for someone else”, Shaw said.

Of course, neither Stanford, Stanford, Calif., nor the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, are their states’ land grant colleges.

There were no surprises, nothing that the Pac-12 hadn’t seen from McCaffrey all year. The onslaught was punctuated late in the second quarter when left tackle Laremy Tunsil had a 2-yard touchdown run on a trick play after a lateral from Kelly. In the locker room aftermath, he listened intently to the message of coach Kirk Ferentz. “We don’t have anybody like that, and I mean that with all due respect to our players”. “We have a lot of good players, but he’s a rare talent… great balance, great vision, very hard to tackle”.

And yet he inexplicably finished a distant second to Henry in the Heisman vote.

“I can’t tell you or describe in terms just what a great job they have done going back to last January. He’s 200. He tried to juke me one time, which surprised me because he wanted to pancake me”.

It was a breathtaking display of football skills that left his own teammates shaking their heads in awe. I play for God and my family.

By the the third quarter, when Iowa reached the Stanford red zone for the first time, the only remaining drama involved whether Iowa or McCaffrey would total more offensive yards.

As the first 12-win team in school history, the legacy of 2015 Iowa is secure. Stanford scored 30 points for the 13th consecutive game.

Stanford even got creative – or cruel, depending on your perspective.

The play has a name: Hawkeye.

The Stanford defense sacked Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard seven times and limited Iowa to a season-low 48 yards rushing. “We want to come back here and win”. It allowed them to bring together a group of more than 30 friends and family to be able to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but more importantly, to be able to watch their favorite team play on New Year’s Day in its first Rose Bowl appearance since 1991.

Ohio State scored on its first two possessions on drives of 80 and 43 yards for a 14-0 lead less than halfway through the first quarter.

McCaffrey caught a touchdown pass on the opening snap, and returned a punt 66 yards for another score while racking up a Rose Bowl-record 368 all-purpose yards. Iowa has now lost its last four Rose Bowls, last winning after the 1958 season. “You get used to seeing all that stuff”.