Hlas: Truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Hawkeyes

PASADENA, Calif. — This is football mecca.

Green Bay Packers fans can say Lambeau Field holds that distinction, but that NFL monument belongs to Wisconsin and only Wisconsin. Those who aren't of the Packer ilk are outsiders looking in.

The Rose Bowl is America's football venue, an iconic stadium surrounded by beauty and full of lore, a setting football fans with access to televisions gravitate to each New Year's no matter who is playing.

USC, Michigan, Stanford, Ohio State, Texas, Wisconsin. All have had great days here, Rose Bowl wins that crystallized their football legacies.

So has Iowa. But it was long ago, before most of us started roaming this earth and when the rest of us were pups.

The resounding 35-19 and 38-12 victories the Hawkeyes scored over Oregon State and California, respectively, in the 1957 and 1959 Rose Bowls stand as the most-meaningful Iowa wins of ... ever? Ever.

The Hawkeyes finished those two seasons ranked third and second, respectively, in the final Associated Press polls. They have four Top-10 finishes under Kirk Ferentz, but haven't closed a season in the Top 5 since 1960.

If the Hawkeyes beat Stanford here Friday, they're in the final Top 5. More importantly, they have their biggest win since they rushed for a humongous 429 yards in that Jan. 1, 1959 triumph over Cal.

Winning the Orange Bowl over Georgia Tech six seasons ago was great, but it wouldn't compare to this. Stanford is the Pac-12 champion, and for the third time in the last four years. Stanford is bona fide, and the oddsmakers' pick to win by about a touchdown.

The residual effect from winning a Rose Bowl is felt immediately, and it stays with you. TCU started getting taken seriously when it beat Wisconsin here four years ago. Michigan State has done a lot of winning under Mark Dantonio, but made its bones when it edged Stanford here in 2014.

Wisconsin became a national program by going 3-for-3 here under Barry Alvarez. Stanford altered the way it was viewed when it beat the Badgers in the 2013 Rose Bowl.

For three hours and change Friday in Football America (and beyond), it's just Stanford and Iowa. It's all the platform the Hawkeyes could ever want for making a positive impression to the rest of the country.

Weirdly, the Hawkeyes gained more respect nationally from their 16-13 loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game than they did from racking up 12 straight victories. It was a physical and pulsating game from pillar to post, one of the year's most-memorable contests.

The Rose Bowl couldn't cede its Big Ten spot to Ohio State after that, not after the way Iowa represented itself in Indianapolis.

Well, Friday is another grand opportunity. If the Hawkeyes ultimately enforce their will and come out winners, it will resonate to all corners of the football map.

Iowa didn't get that from beating Georgia Tech in Miami six years ago. It hasn't gotten anything like it since it won the No. 1-vs.-No. 2 clash with Michigan in Kinnick Stadium 30 years ago.

This would be better. If All-Everything running back Christian McCaffrey and the powerful Cardinal offense end up second-best against the Hawkeyes' horses, the vast majority of Iowa fans will experience something they've never experienced.

Getting it done will be the farthest thing from easy. In this decade, only Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State and Florida State have more wins than the Cardinal's 65. Stanford is legit and then some, a program built on blocking and tackling, of substance over style. Just like the team it opposes.

All the better for Iowa. If it wins, its story changes. It becomes storybook, actually.

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