Hlas: Another faded Rose Bowl for Hawkeyes

PASADENA, Calif. — Twenty-five years between Rose Bowls felt like forever for longtime Iowa followers. Then Friday's game started, and it was if the Hawkeyes had never left Pasadena.

Iowa trailed 33-7 to Washington at halftime here on New Year's of 1991 on the way to a 46-34 Hawkeyes loss. That, incredibly, wasn't as bad as what the Hawkeyes faced Friday when they trailed 35-0 at the half. The story was told just 11 seconds into the game when the Cardinal scored on a 75-yard pass play from seasoned Rose Bowl senior quarterback Kevin Hogan to sophomore whirlwind back Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey got my Heisman Trophy vote. Those who chose someone else have some answering to do after his Rose Bowl-record 368 all-purpose yards, including 172 rushing and 105 receiving. Oh, he also busted a punt return for a score.

'He's by far the best player I've ever played against,' Iowa linebacker Cole Fisher said after the game, 'I'm biased, but I thought he had everything it took to win the Heisman.'

That opening touchdown was multiplied by five before halftime, while Iowa's slipping, sliding, thunderstruck team was shut out. There was a long interception return for a touchdown. McCaffrey had his 63-yard punt return for another. It was 35-0, and felt like it could have been worse.

Iowa's defense? Overwhelmed. Its offense? Likewise. Stanford sacked quarterback C.J. Beathard seven times, five more than its average.

'We believed we could do everything in our offense,' said Iowa running back LeShun Daniels. 'As the game went on, things were not going on as planned, obviously.'

'Their line just ripped us open all game long,' Fisher said.

Stanford offensive guard Joshua Garnett, this season's Outland Trophy Award winner as the nation's top interior lineman, whooped in the winner's locker room.

'They didn't know who Christian McCaffrey was?' Garnett hollered in his team's locker room, according to ESPN.com Pac-12 reporter David Lombardi. 'Well, they know now!'

In reality, Iowa's players were highly complimentary in the days leading up to the game. But another comment King reportedly made rankled Garnett.

'I like when guards pull and all that,' King said earlier in the week.

'I took out somebody that size before my freshman year against LSU (guard La'el Collins). 'He did the same thing, and I knocked him over. … I'm looking forward to the same thing (facing Garnett).'

Whether King turns pro or not this winter is an unknown, but his NFL stock didn't go up Friday. Hey, the Hawkeyes' stock in general plummeted, getting manhandled like this in front of America.

'That game's not the way we played all season,' Iowa senior tight end Henry Krieger Coble said.

'The way we played all year, we shouldn't be remembered for one day. Especially such a terrible day like today.'

The trouble is, this is the one non-Iowans will remember. The Hawkeyes got to a stage as big as they've graced in Kirk Ferentz's 17-year tenure as coach. But they were mere props for McCaffrey and Stanford's machine-like Pac-12 champions.

The time for Iowa to cling to its 12-0 regular-season isn't today. It will come, and it surely should come. It was a fabulous season no matter what Syndicated Radio Show Hosts X, Y or Z say.

But on Friday, the national chirpers who called the Hawkeyes posers during the season were given all the ammo for a 'Told you so' as they could ever need.

'A 12-0 record is something that's never been done at Iowa,' Beathard said. 'We made history and definitely left (the program) in a better place. We were 7-6 last year. The 12-0 set the standard for the guys coming up.'

'We've got to use this as motivation going into next year,' said Beathard. 'We'll have a chip on our shoulder. We'll try to finish strong, win the Big Ten championship game and a BCS (now College Football Playoff) bowl game.'

Coming from most players, that would sound like a blast of hot air. But Beathard means it. Which, given his talents, is reason to believe more good times are ahead.

But Friday felt as empty for the Hawkeyes as their regular-season loss column.

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com