No spot in the College Football Playoff? No Heisman for Christian McCaffrey? No problem.

After almost a month of rest, the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal (12-2) played their best football of the season in the 102nd Rose Bowl Game, dominating the No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes (12-2) by a score of 45-16. The win marks Stanford’s second Rose Bowl win in four years after beating Wisconsin in 2013.

For McCaffrey, it was the marquee performance of a once-in-a lifetime season. The human highlight reel tallied 368 all-purpose yards, with 2 touchdowns of 75 yards and 63 yards each, the latter off a punt return, the first time this season he ran it back into the end zone off a punt. The Hawkeyes defense had no solution for the solution running back, who took a pass from Kevin Hogan for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.

Quarterback Kevin Hogan ended his Stanford career with a victory in his third Rose Bowl start, completing 12-of-21 passes for 223 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushing for another touchdown. It was a true display of brilliance from the Pac-12’s best offense on all fronts.

Defensively, the Cardinal made it tough for Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard and company. The Stanford defense recorded 7 sacks and stopped the potent Hawkeyes running attack to just 48 yards.

It was a storybook end to the season for David Shaw’s team, a perfect send-off for the Cardinal’s senior class and yet another chapter in the tale of the Stanford football powerhouse.

 

This post will be updated.

Contact Sandip Srinivas at sandips ‘at’ stanford.edu.