Rose Bowl 2016: Iowa, Stanford Look to Cap Remarkable Seasons

LOS ANGELES — Iowa has not been to the Rose Bowl in a quarter century, and one only has to venture a few blocks south of the team hotel to realize just how many Hawkeyes have journeyed from the middle of the country to Southern California to revel in a rare trip out West.

Just down Figueroa Street and south of the heart of downtown, large signs outside the L.A. Convention Center have been flashing all week with welcome messages to the gathering legion of black-and-yellow fans.

Typically, Rose Bowl pep rallies and team gatherings are conducted near a famous landmark in the area or at the nearby L.A. Live complex. Iowa’s alumni club expected as many as 20,000 fans for its event this week, according to school officials. It needed a venue large enough to host such a gathering, so it had to reserve the entire South Hall at the convention center as a result, a space normally used to host some of the biggest trade shows in the world.

Though that type of fever pitch for an alumni event is impressive, there was an even larger pep rally conducted further down Figueroa at the USS Iowa battleship in San Pedro. And that’s just one side of this year’s matchup at the 102nd Rose Bowl.

A season after hosting the first-ever College Football Playoff semifinal game, the Granddaddy of Them All returns to its familiar matchup of Big Ten vs. Pac-12 on New Year’s Day. Featuring a pair of top-six teams, the first-ever meeting between Iowa and Stanford could decide who can lay claim to being the best non-playoff team of the 2015 season.

“The Rose Bowl's a very, very special thing to everybody involved in our program, certainly our fanbase as well,” Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz said Wednesday, a few hours after being named the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year. “I do remember distinctly in 1981, Jim Zabel, legendary radio broadcaster in Des Moines, his crack was 'last person out of the state shut the lights out' as they headed to California. So we anticipate a really enthusiastic following here. Our fans have been tremendous historically, and I think we'll probably witness that on Friday as well.”

For some teams in the young playoff era, even a prestigious New Year’s Six bowl can have the feeling of an unfulfilling consolation prize for a very good season. The players and coaches involved in Friday’s clash in Pasadena have given no indication in the run-up to the game that is the case for them.

Motivation is certainly not lacking for the Hawkeyes given that it’s their first trip to the game in decades. Even for the Cardinal, making their third appearance in four years, the ability to capture the Leishman Trophy once again and play in the most picturesque setting in college football is the perfect way to close out the season.

“This is the Rose Bowl. It is different. It is special. There's nothing that's old hat. Whether you've been here once or you've been here three times, you feel how special it is on that game day,” Cardinal head coach David Shaw said. “There is an excitement in the air. There are clear lines of delineation based on the apparel of which side is for which team, and both sides are energetic and passionate. We’ve run out on the field a couple big games before, and there is still nothing like running out on the field at the Rose Bowl. The people cheering and the energy and the environment, it's just awesome.”

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

One final win would be even sweeter for both teams given how many expected them to be far from a New Year’s Day bowl at the start of the season in September. Stanford looked anemic in its opener at Northwestern but rallied to win the Pac-12 behind newfound star Christian McCaffrey. The sophomore not only became the featured back in an offense starving for one, but he also broke the FBS single-season all-purpose yards record and finished as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

In addition to their young headliner, a group of veterans, such as quarterback Kevin Hogan and linebacker Blake Martinez, have helped the Cardinal prove once again that the team full of self-described nerds is a powerhouse football program in the middle of a budding West Coast dynasty.

“We have a lot of respect for their team. It's definitely not just Christian McCaffrey. If it was just Christian McCaffrey, they wouldn't have a successful football team. There's a lot of good players on that team, offensively and defensively, and we know that,” Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard said. “They've got a solid defense, and they've got a lot of good guys on the defensive line, linebackers, defensive ends. I don't think there's a spot in the defense where we're just like, 'Yeah, we're going to attack this part of the defense because that's where they struggle.' That's not the case.”

Beathard is 13-1 as Iowa’s starting quarterback, with the lone loss coming to a Michigan State team that has a shot to win the national title. He has been one of the biggest surprises in college football as the steady hand directing the Hawkeyes offense, making clutch plays when needed and giving the team a more consistent downfield dimension when teaming with wide receiver Tevaun Smith.

Though it came up one defensive stand short of a Big Ten title, Iowa has had a season of rousing success after several years toiling in mediocrity. The team turned in the fifth undefeated regular season in school history and started 12-0 for the first time ever. Quiet and overlooked all year, the Hawkeyes have already set a school record for wins, but a final one on New Year’s Day may be just what they need to validate themselves to everybody else as a truly great team this season.

“They kind of remind me of the San Antonio Spurs. They are not going to beat themselves,” Stanford cornerback Ronnie Harris said. “You have to champ at the bit play after play and beat them. They are a well-drilled team. They don't turn the ball over much. They are a physical, hard-nosed team. They compete.”

Curiously, though running the ball is the heart and soul of their offensive identity, the Hawkeyes have yet to produce a 1,000-yard rusher this season. Jordan Canzeri can reach that mark with a few carries in the game Friday, but it’s notable that he, Akrum Wadley and LeShun Daniels all rushed for at least 195 yards in a single game this season. According to the school, Iowa is the only team since 1997 to do that in a single season.

In its winning ways this year, Iowa has lived up to what its head coach has preached, namely that the team is better than the sum of its parts. While that may have also been the case with past iterations of the Hawkeyes, this year the parts are more experienced and more talented than at any time in the past decade.

“They kind of remind us of us, and I don't want those guys to look at it as disrespectful at all. Not at all. I mean, they play the way that we want to play. You put on the film and you see 11 guys on defense getting after the football. Offensively you see 11 guys doing what they're supposed to do,” Shaw said. “And you see tight, close games with the game on the line and somebody making a play to swing it in their favor, whether it's a defensive back, an interception, a guy getting a sack fumble or a running back breaking a tackle to get the first down that seals the game, or a quarterback that maybe hasn't thrown a bunch of passes, but dropping back in a critical moment and firing the ball in there to get the first down to end the game.

“Those are things that we have a lot of respect for, and those are things that we try to do ourselves.”

This year’s Rose Bowl will be no matchup between polar opposites, but equals. As Stanford and Iowa look to ring in 2016, each is surely hoping to do it in style with one final masterpiece to put a bow on this season.

It’s been a remarkable year either way on The Farm and in Iowa City, but there’s just something about capping it all off with a few roses that would make the season even sweeter for each team.

Bryan Fischer is a national college football columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.