Rose Bowl 2016: Dissecting Top Storylines for Stanford vs. Iowa
The 2016 Rose Bowl isn't one of the College Football Playoff semifinals, but it's still a huge game. The Stanford Cardinal, led by fifth-year senior Kevin Hogan and Heisman Trophy finalist Christian McCaffrey, take on the almost CFP-eligible Iowa Hawkeyes in Pasadena, California, on New Year's Day.
How will Hogan finish his legacy at Stanford? Will McCaffrey dazzle in his first game since being snubbed for the Heisman? Can the Hawkeyes put their disappointing loss to the Michigan State Spartans in the Big Ten Championship Game behind them?
Rose Bowl Veteran
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Hogan is one of those players who has seemingly been in college for seven years. Truth be told, this is the final year at Stanford for the fifth-year senior. He's had his ups and downs, but in his career, he's led the Cardinal to three Pac-12 championships and three Rose Bowl appearances. He has a 1-1 career record in the game.
Per Fox Sports, only the Ohio State Buckeyes' Cornelius Greene (1974-1976) and Michigan Wolverines' Rick Leach (1977-1979) have started in three Rose Bowl contests.
Even with his success, Hogan has his critics. Alex Jacobson of Pro Football Spot poked fun at Hogan's draft stock:
Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee echoed the seemingly elongated college career theme:
In his final game for the Cardinal, Hogan will have an opportunity to put a positive stamp on his college career and gain some momentum in the eyes of pro scouts heading into the Senior Bowl.
Something to Prove
Despite setting a new NCAA record for total yards from scrimmage by compiling 3,496 yards in 2015, McCaffrey finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Alabama running back Derrick Henry.
Henry had an amazing year, but there will always be those who believe McCaffrey deserved to win. That notion was proved when the Associated Press gave the Cardinal star the nod for its top college football honor. AP Top 25 tweeted:
Even with McCaffrey's latest award, there are still a few people left to convince. One in particular is Iowa senior linebacker Cole Fisher. Per Do-Hyoung Park of the Stanford Daily, Fisher said of the Heisman runner-up: “I hadn’t heard too much about [McCaffrey]. I didn’t follow him in the Heisman race too much, and that was probably the first time I heard about him.”
Can anyone say "bulletin-board material?"
The first time McCaffrey jukes, spins or runs past Fisher, you can already hear someone saying, "Hey, Cole, have you heard of him now?"
Shaking off the Tough Loss
Iowa had designs on representing the Big Ten in the CFP. However, its 16-13 loss to Michigan State in the conference championship game ruined the dream. When Iowa takes the field on New Year's Day, it'll be 26 days since the crushing defeat, but there's a chance the remnants of the failure could haunt them in the Rose Bowl.
The Spartans marched 82 yards on 22 plays on the game-winning drive; it took just over nine minutes to complete. A drive like that has to create a plethora of what-if moments for Iowa.
What if they had gotten a stop on this play, made this tackle or intercepted this ball? Per Mitch Sherman of ESPN.com, Iowa left tackle Boone Myers talked about watching the dreaded drive after the game.
“There was some salt in the wounds,” Myers said. “No one really wanted to see it. But you’ve got to do it. You’ve got to dissect the tape. It was probably good for us.”
The Hawkeyes and their fans surely hope so.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
