Iowa, Stanford is a game of heavies

LOS ANGELES — Stanford runs offensive formations with eight offensive linemen. Iowa loves the fullback/tight end positions so much that it plays with two of each.

Yes, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey is a Maserati and Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard is a gunner, but the meat of this Rose Bowl will be . . . well, the meat.

Case in point is time of possession. With the rise of tempo offenses, that number has been sort of boxed away as far as importance goes, but make no mistake. In this game, time of possession is going to be telling.

The Cardinal lead the nation, holding the ball 35:23 in games (more than half, by the way). The Hawkeyes aren't bad here, either, ranking No. 32 nationally at 31:23 per game.

'That's our thing,' said Stanford guard Joshua Garnett, an Outland Trophy winner and 325-pounder. 'Our offensive line prides ourselves on that. It's kind of those old boxing adages, where you take the body blows, take the body blows for two quarters or three quarters and then you throw that haymaker in the third or fourth quarter.'

This can be an advantage on several fronts, but one that you might miss if you watch on TV is the physical toll it can take.

There are physical signs. The players know it. Here is some of what they look for on the field.

'You see those guys getting up a little slower,' Garnett said. 'They won't look you in the eyes anymore. You can kind of see them jawing with each other on the line of scrimmage. You can definitely tell, 'OK hey, it's time to start throwing those punches now, throw those haymakers.

'That's been the MO on our offensive line. We're going to keep taking those shots. Anytime you have an opportunity to take a shot, take it.'

Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren also is the Cardinal offensive line coach. He's in constant contact with his players. He knows what they see. He knows when to throw the haymaker.

'I think our offensive linemen know it before anyone else,' Bloomgren said. 'They can see that look in the eyes of the guy across from them. You do start seeing some body language and some stuff like that.'

The example that Bloomgren reached for was the Cardinal victory in the Pac-12 championship game. Stanford rushed 51 times and threw just 13. It held the ball for 35:42 and won comfortably 41-22.

'Going into the Pac-12 championship game, there was no way we were going to say we're going to throw the ball 13 times and Kevin (Hogan, Stanford's senior QB) is going to throw the ball 12 times,' Bloomgren said. 'We thought we were going to need balance to find some explosive plays. Once we got a lead and it started to go in a different direction, we said, 'Linemen, this is on you.' Rest of it was handing the ball off to Christian and watching him work.'

If this all sounds vaguely familiar, here are some numbers from the Big Ten title game, a 16-13 Michigan State victory over the Hawkeyes: 22 plays, 82 yards, 9:04 off the clock and a 36:38 to 23:22 advantage for the Spartans in time of possession.

'Their time of possession is huge in every game,' Iowa linebacker Josey Jewell said. 'We have to help take care of that as a defense. We have to give our offense the ball. We need to give our offense more time of possession.'

The physical signs of tiredness work both ways. A defense can do that to an offense.

'There's a bunch of small things that you can see, depending on the guy,' Jewell said. 'Getting up close on him or just his body language as a whole, you can read that and understand whether he's tired, whether he's ready to go or whether he's getting beat down.

'So, there's a lot of things you can look at there, and if you're winning the battle, you can usually tell who's beat up. There's the small things like that.'

What Iowa defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson sees is this: 'They tend to give up a little bit more. Like at the start of the game, they come out really fast. Toward the end of the game, they're starting to give up, starting to become a little bit soft. And that's really where you want them.'

He hasn't seen that with Stanford.

'With this offensive line, I don't see that,' Jewell said. 'They're very physical, so I really don't see that as getting soft. It's going to be a hard game.'

No one wants to be the first to break. And, yes, they are conscious of the signs and try not to show weakness.

'You don't want to show it off with body language,' Jewell said. 'You want to stay straight up. You want to act like you're ready to go, you're 100 percent there. But it's hard when you're tired sometimes. I sometimes bend over at the waist and sometimes you slouch your shoulders, but you just have to stay in that stature, that you're ready to go and you're 100 percent.'

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com