Take a look at various happenings from Southern California heading into the 102nd Rose Bowl game on Friday.
By Danny Payne
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LOS ANGELES — Hi there, everyone, and hello from sunny (and kind of chilly) California. Below are some quick hits from the fifth-ranked Iowa football team’s Sunday heading into its Rose Bowl matchup against No. 6 Stanford on Jan. 1, 2016. Apologies for failing to post a story or three during the day — we’ll be updating instantaneously all week, by the way — but we were go, go, go with our whole team getting into town at different times today.
To catch up on what you may have missed, read on. For up-to-the-second news, be sure to follow us on Twitter @dipregame and Instagram @dailyiowansports.
Duzey out for Rose Bowl
Tight end Jake Duzey’s Hawkeye career has come to an end. After suffering a knee injury and undergoing surgery in the spring, the senior re-injured that knee in practice and will miss the Rose Bowl, head coach Kirk Ferentz said.
Duzey’s senior season will be a question of what could have been rather than what was. After he was one of 2014’s most promising Hawkeyes, leading Big Ten tight ends in receptions last season. The senior was limited in 2015 and did not catch a pass.
“We all feel badly for Jake and the fact that this injury will keep him from playing in the game,” Ferentz said in a release. “Jake has worked extremely hard since his initial injury in the spring and has contributed to the success of our season in a number of ways.”
As they have all season, the Hawkeyes will rely on Henry Krieger Coble and George Kittle to fill Duzey’s shoes. The former is Iowa’s second-leading receiver with 32 catches, while Kittle is fourth in receptions with 20. They have combined for 675 yards and 7 touchdowns.
In other injury news, running back Jordan Canzeri, tackle Ike Boettger, and tackle Boone Myers should at least get a shot in Friday’s contest. Each is practicing this week, said offensive coordinator Greg Davis.
Stopping the run
It’s no secret, and you’ve heard it from all 13 of Iowa’s opponents this season, but the point remains the same heading into contest No. 14 — to beat the Hawkeyes, you have to stop the run.
According to Stanford defensive coordinator Lance Anderson, limiting Iowa’s ability to run play-action passes is a huge key.
[SLIDE SHOW: ROSE BOWL PREGAME DAY TWO]
“You stop them from running the football or at least slow them down, and the play action doesn’t become as effective as if they are really running the ball well,” Anderson told the media Sunday. “So you’ve really got the attitude that we have to sell out to stop the run, and we’ve got to get up in there, and all of the sudden, there is a play-action fake and the ball goes over your head.
“It’s a good challenge.”
While Anderson was mainly explaining how to stop Iowa’s running backs, keeping quarterback C.J. Beathard’s ground game in check is a different challenge. Anderson said his team has to be very aware of its rushing lanes and very disciplined in that aspect of the contest.
“I think they’re going to run the ball and stick to their guns, and that’s what they’re preparing for,” defensive end Brennan Scarlett said. “I’m sure anybody who has watched them this season knows what’s coming.”
ALL THE BEEF
Bowl trips aren’t all business; quite the contrary, actually. The week kicked off Dec. 26 with a trip to Disneyland (you can see our photo slide show here, and some fun with Cardinal players courtesy of our friends at the Stanford Daily here), but Sunday brought a whole different animal — the Lawry’s Beef Bowl.
You may have heard of it, you may not have, but let me tell you, it’s awesome. Basically, Rose Bowl’s most important people and every member each team go to Lawry’s Prime Rib in Beverly Hills and eat mammoth amounts of beef. It started as a contest between the two Rose Bowl teams in 1956, with the Hawkeyes out-eating Oregon State by 17 pounds. An interesting note on that, head coach Forest Evashevski didn’t want his team going to Lawry’s, so Lawry’s brought the food to the Hawks.
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It’s not a competition anymore, which is sad, but the fine people at the restaurant pulled out the works for all in attendance. A few quick hits:
- Ferentz wouldn’t give an answer when asked if Iowa beef is better than California beef. “We are in California, so this would never get back to Iowa if I said something, right?”
- Austin Blythe said senior Darian Cooper could put down the most prime rib on the team.
- The food was absolutely stupendous. As a world-renowned (read: self-proclaimed) expert on media spreads, this was second to none, with the food at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln taking silver, and the spread at Kinnick for the Purdue game in November grabbing bronze.
What’s Monday?
OK, so tomorrow is where we really hit the ground running. Again, we apologize for posting this so late and promise things will be at a time you want to read them.
Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloomgren, along with Kevin Hogan, Joshua Garnett, Kyle Murphy, Christian McCaffrey, and Austin Hooper will speak at 8 a.m. local time, followed by Hawkeye defensive coordinator Phil Parker, Cole Fisher, Josey Jewell, Jaleel Johnson, Desmond King, and Nate Meier.
We’ll have coverage of that event, as well as reaction from the brief portion of Iowa and Stanford practice we get to watch at 12:20 p.m. and 1:20 p.m., respectively.
Follow along here at dailyiowan.com, as well as our social accounts, @dipregame, @dailyiowansports, and @dannyapayne. We’re going to do our podcast with guests on Tuesday. I’m operating under the assumption that you don’t want to hear me talk at you for 40 minutes without a familiar voice at my side, and I don’t want to talk at you for 40 minutes alone, either, so I’ll wait for Charlie to get in town to record and get that posted right away.
This is fun, everyone; let’s enjoy the last week of this 2015 college-football season together. Ready, break.