Christian McCaffrey Runs Wild as Stanford Trounces Iowa in Rose Bowl

Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey caught a pass on the first play from scrimmage in the 2016 Rose Bowl and raced for the end zone, scoring a touchdown on a play covering 75 yards. Before he was through, McCaffrey, who is the leader in college football in all purpose yards, would have 105 receiving yards, 172 rushing yards, and 91 kick/punt return yards for a total of 368 all purpose yards, which is a new Rose Bowl record. Besides the touchdown reception, McCaffrey also had a 63 yard punt return for a touchdown as sixth ranked Stanford demolished #5 Iowa 45-16.

Stanford was absolutely dominating in the game, and it was hard to believe the guys from Palo Alto lost to anyone this year. But they lost their opener 16-7 at Northwestern, and a 38-36 loss to Oregon on November 14th kept them out of the four team College Football Playoff, despite winning the Pacific 12 championship. Stanford ended the season at 12-2.

Iowa’s only blemish had been a three point loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship game. But the Hawkeyes had no answer for McCaffrey or quarterback Kevin Hogan, who passed for 223 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for another score, and trailed 35-0 at halftime.

McCaffrey is a sophomore and will be back next year. You can pencil him in as an early favorite for the 2016 Heisman Trophy (we think he should have gotten it this year) along with LSU’s Leonard Fournette.

McCaffrey’s performance overshadowed another fine running back’s game. In the Fiesta Bowl, Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliot rushed for 149 yards and four touchdowns as the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame 44-28. Ezekiel, a junior, has already announced he’ll enter the NFL draft.