Stanford steamrolls Iowa 45-16 in Rose Bowl before 94,000 fans

A first-half record 35 points and Christian McCaffrey’s record 368 all-purpose yards helped power Stanford to a 45-16 victory Friday over Iowa in the 102nd Rose Bowl Game.

The Cardinal (12-2) began establishing their dominance on the first play from scrimmage when Kevin Hogan threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey, who set a Football Bowl Subdivision record with 3,496 all-purpose yards during the regular season and was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

Hogan ran eight yards for a touchdown on Stanford’s second possession before a 94,268-person crowd.

Freshman cornerback Quenton Meeks intercepted a pass by Hawkeyes quarterback C.J. Beathard and returned it 66 yards for a touchdown, giving Stanford, the Pac-12 Conference champion, a 21-0 lead with four minutes, seven seconds left in the first quarter.

McCaffrey returned a punt by Dillon Kidd 63 yards for a touchdown 48 seconds into the second quarter.

Hogan threw a 31-yard pass to Michael Rector 8:22 before halftime for the Cardinal’s final first-half touchdown, giving them a 35-0 lead.

The previous record for points in a first half was 34 by Miami in the 2002 game.

McCaffrey ran for 172 yards on 18 carries, caught four passes for 105 yards, returned one punt for 63 yards and one kickoff for 28 yards to break the previous record for all-purpose yards of 346 set by Wisconsin’s Jared Abbrederis in the 2012 game.

Hogan completed 12 of 21 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns. The third was a 42-yarder to Rector with 1:54 left in the fourth quarter.

Beathard completed 21 of 33 passes for 239 yards with one interception. He threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Matt VandeBerg and a 31-yard touchdown pass to Akrum Wadley, both in the fourth quarter, as Iowa lost its second consecutive game after starting the season 12-0.

The only points in the third quarter came on field goals, a 31-yarder by Stanford’s Conrad Ukropina and a 39-yarder by Iowa’s Marshall Koehn.

The Hawkeyes were the Big Ten Conference’s West Division champion. Michigan State’s 16-13 victory over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game gave it the No. 3 ranking in the final College Football Playoff rankings and a spot in the four-team College Football Playoff.

Another Big Ten team had to be chosen as its Rose Bowl Game representative, and the Hawkeyes were that choice.

Iowa was making its first Rose Bowl Game appearance since New Year’s Day 1991. Iowa has lost its last four Rose Bowl Game appearances, with its most recent victory coming on New Year’s Day 1959.

Stanford was playing in the Rose Bowl for the third time in four years, winning twice, evening its record to college football’s oldest bowl game to 7-7- 1.

Big Ten teams are 2-10 in the Rose Bowl Game since 2001.

— City News Service