NCAA: Stanford runs roughshod over Hawkeyes in Rose Bowl
Heisman Trophy runner-up Christian McCaffrey caught a 75-yard touchdown pass on the opening snap and returned a punt 66 yards for another score while breaking a Rose Bowl record with 368 all-purpose yards, propelling No. 5 Stanford to victory over the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes.
Kevin Hogan passed for 223 yards and three TDs in his final game for the Cardinal, who won the Rose Bowl for the second time in three trips over the past four years.
McCaffrey also became the first player ever to rack up more than 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in a Rose Bowl. Stanford and Iowa, both finishing 12-2, were the top two teams outside the College Football Playoff field. MICHIGAN 41, FLORIDA 7: Jake Rudock shrugged off a shoulder injury and threw for three touchdowns to lead the Wolverines to victory in the Citrus Bowl.
“I would say this was the best game we’ve played all year,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said.
There were pre-game concerns about Rudock after he was knocked out of Michigan’s regular-season finale against Ohio State with a left shoulder injury. Those were quickly laid to rest in a 503-yard attack — including three scoring drives of 70-plus yards — that fuelled the Wolverines’ first bowl win since 2012.
Said Florida coach Jim McElwain: “It was a case of getting your rump kicked in. That’s what it was.” TENN. 45, NORTHWESTERN 6: The Volunteers’ overpowering victory in the Outback Bowl not only capped Tennessee’s best season in eight years, but showcased some of the young talent that gives the Vols a chance to keep climbing.
Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two TDs, while game MVP Jalen Hurd rushed for 130 yards and a score for the Vols. ing. Like polo, or a Leafs game.
Spending four days up close, behind the scenes with a media pass was like walking through some kind of football Disneyland. On Wednesday, it was meeting the players, walking past receiver Will Fuller — a hero with 13 touchdowns this season — and resisting the urge to stand, slackjawed, at his table.
On Friday, it was prowling the sidelines for warm-up, yards from the four-year-old’s invincible football team. It was invincible through warm-up, anyway. Weighted with the burden of injury, and facing the reigning national champions, Notre Dame stumbled.
The Irish lost star linebacker Jaylon Smith to what coach Brian Kelly later described as a “significant knee injury” in the first quarter and went on to lose the game 44-28. Notre Dame has not won a major bowl game in 22 years, since the Cotton Bowl, in 1993, when I was still in high school.
“We’ll get back here again,” Kelly said. “And we’ll win ’em.”
This feels like a place where Leafs fans and Irish fans share a patch of common ground. They will still be back, year after year, even without the promised wins. It does not come without cost, either through tickets or invested time, but it can come with benefits.
Those benefits are not always the sense of connectivity or community with fellow fans. It is not always ties to family, or to the past. But sometimes, cheering for your team offers the singular experience of being tied to all three.
Though, to be clear, Brian, a win would be nice.