Rose Bowl 2016: Stanford vs. Iowa TV Schedule, Time and Odds

The 102nd edition of the Granddaddy of Them All offers classic smashmouth football when the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal collide with the No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes.

Consolation prize or not, Stanford won't complain about its third trip to the Rose Bowl in four years. It capped two major wins to close the season led by Heisman Trophy runner-up Christian McCaffrey only to get edged out of the College Football Playoff via conference title wins by Alabama and Clemson.

Iowa's path was more dramatic after then-No. 5 Michigan State ruined the Hawkeyes' perfect season to begin the month, knocking them from the CFP. The program's first Rose Bowl berth since 1991 isn't something to sniff at.

Here's a look at the showdown that is sure to feature plenty of defense and star-studded running games.

Game Details

When: Friday January 1, at 5 p.m. ET

Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

Television: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Tickets: ScoreBig.com

Over/Under: 53.5

Spread: Stanford (-6)

Team Injury Reports

NAME	POS	STATUS
Ronnie Harris	CB	Prob Fri
Daniel Marx	FB	Out for season
Harrison Phillips	DE	Out for season

NAME	POS	STATUS
Jordan Canzeri	RB	Prob Fri
Drew Ott	DL	Out for season

Injury reports courtesy of USA Today.

Comfort Zone

It's hard to imagine Stanford could be happier with the matchup.

After spending all year trying to defend the high-flying ways of modern offenses—sometimes finding success, such as shutting down then-No. 20 USC 41-22, other times failing, such as the 38-36 loss to Oregon—the Cardinal now get to go back to basics.

Iowa loves to run the football and averages 192 rushing yards per game. For Cardinal defensive coordinator Lance Anderson, the four-deep rushing attack looks like a challenge his unit will welcome with open arms.

"They're probably more like us than a lot of other teams we've played," Anderson said, according to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News. "They'll get into some of the bigger personnel groups that we don't see as often in the Pac-12. It's just smashmouth football."

Stanford will respond in kind, too, with McCaffrey. The Associated Press college football player of the year rushed for 1,847 yards and eight touchdowns on a 5.8 yard-per-carry average and also led the team in receiving with 41 catches for 540 yards and four touchdowns.

Quarterback Kevin Hogan, who completed a stellar 68.6 percent of his passes this year with 24 scores, needs every bit of help he can get against the strong Iowa defense. Backed by an elite defense of his own, though, Hogan won't have to post overwhelming numbers like he would against one of his conference foes.

The Capper

Iowa wants nothing more than to put the crushing, season-ending 16-13 loss to the Spartans behind them and finish with good vibes.

Kirk Ferentz put on one of the year's best turnaround performances with the Hawkeyes, pulling in the 2015 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award in the process.

He spoke on the achievement with HawkeyeSports.com: “I appreciate the acknowledgement of our accomplishments. I am honored to share this recognition with our staff, our players and our great fans, and I am grateful to the University of Iowa for providing the necessary support for our success.”

Ferentz got a 61.4 completion percentage with 2,570 yards and 21 total touchdowns from junior quarterback C.J. Beathard, who himself got some help from a deep rushing attack:

NAME	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jordan Canzeri	178	976	5.5	75 (TD)	12
LeShun Daniels Jr.	135	609	4.5	51 (TD)	8
Akrum Wadley	74	463	6.3	65 (TD)	7
C.J. Beathard	87	270	3.1	57	6
Derrick Mitchell Jr.	24	159	6.6	45	2

The core propelled the team to a 10-6 grind-it-out victory against then-No. 19 Wisconsin in October and followed a few weeks later with a 40-point showing in a beatdown of then-No. 20 Northwestern.

The Hawkeyes have to look at the loss to Michigan State to see what went wrong, as the Spartans limited them to 52 rushing yards on a 2.2 yard-per-carry average in a three-point game.

If the Stanford defense can pull off a similar feat, it will be up to Beathard to make plays in all phases to take pressure off the defense from having to stop a Heisman finalist.

Prediction

Hailing from the high-flying Pac-12 and boasting a weapon like McCaffrey, Las Vegas looks to be right on the money here in backing the Cardinal.

There's no dismissing Iowa's accomplishments this year, not after playing their game to great effect against plenty of strong teams. But Michigan State wrote the defensive blueprint for Stanford to employ, which the talented unit certainly can.

No team has stopped McCaffrey this year, and Iowa won't be the first. He, along with Hogan and a monster offensive line, shouldn't have issues winning the time-of-possession battle Friday and pulling away late.

Prediction: Stanford 27, Iowa 24

Statistics courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified. All betting information courtesy of Odds Shark.