In the 102nd Rose Bowl, Stanford blew out the Iowa Hawkeyes defeating them by 29 points, winning 45-16 in Kevin Hogan’s last game in the Cardinal uniform.
Stanford Dominates First Half, Opens Gigantic Lead
All the hype leading up to the game was about Christian McCaffrey, the sensational sophomore running back who many thought should have won the Heisman Trophy, and how the Big 10 runner-ups was going to stop him. Whatever plan Iowa had, got torn up after the very first play. Kevin Hogan found his go-to target out of the backfield and the speedster did the rest, eluding a couple of would-be defenders and racked up a 75-yard touchdown.
On the next drive, Stanford was much more methodical with the football, mixing the running and passing plays. From five yards out, Hogan handed the ball off to McCaffrey and he scored six more points. McCaffrey scored the first three touchdowns of the game.
One of the problem’s Iowa had tonight was that they could not get anything going as the Stanford defense stepped up to every challenge thrown their way. Quenton Meeks, a true freshman, picked a poor pass and scampered 66 yards back for his school’s third touchdown of the opening quarter. His third was perhaps the best of them all. After his defense stopped the Hawkeyes again and as they punted, he returned the kick for a 63 yard score.
Hawkeyes Finally Gets Scores
It took Iowa until near the end of the third quarter before they finally got points on the board and it was a mere field goal to cut Stanford’s lead to 35. After six play drive by Stanford, which ended in a punt, the Hawkeyes took three plays to score their first touchdown. C.J. Beathard found his favorite wide receiver, Matt VandeBerg for a 36 yard strike.
Iowa picked off Hogan for the first time, their first turnover in the game, when Josey Jewell caught it in the back of the end zone. It took them only seven plays to go 80 yards on their final touchdown of the evening. This time, Beathard threw it to his running back Akrum Wadley finding him 31 yards down the field. Who knows what it would have been like had they had been able to get this kind of offense in the opening half? Perhaps the game could have been a little closer, but there was nothing they could do to stop McCaffrey.
Even though the game was already done and dusted, Stanford coach David Shaw still took chances down the field near the end of the game. One of those bombs paid off for Hogan and his offense, as Michael Rector hauled in a 42 yard touchdown grab to cap off a phenomenal night all around for the PAC-12 Conference champion.
Both of these school's had phenomenal seasons but one man took over the show and the rest was history in one of the most lopsided Rose Bowl games in recent history.