Football reporter Danny Payne lists four things No. 5 Iowa must do to beat No. 6 Stanford. 

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PASADENA, Calif. — This place, man. The Rose Bowl is, without a doubt, the prettiest sports venue I’ve ever seen. The San Gabriel Mountains are stunning, as is the stadium itself. The coolest thing about it, for my money, is how intimate the venue is. The capacity is listed at 92,542, but Kinnick Stadium seems bigger than this. SO COOL.

Anyway, you can read our predictions here, and below are the exams. Charlie will be here helping me in a bit, but I’m on my own for the next little while.

Convert third downs

We all know the story; over its last two games, the Hawkeyes only went 3-of-21 on third downs. No good, goose. Against a team such as Stanford, which is very efficient and capable of staying on the field for long periods of time, Iowa can’t afford to give Christian McCaffrey and Kevin Hogan a bunch of time on the field.

Grade: D. Iowa was 5-of-17, and had eight first downs in the first three quarters.

Keep Stanford behind the sticks

Earlier this week, we detailed Stanford’s game plan on each drive. Keeping the Cardinal off that game plan would be huge for the Hawkeyes, knocking a very methodical offense off its rocker. The front seven is huge in that regard.

Grade: F. 45 points, c’mon.

Slow down McCaffrey

I know, I know, this isn’t providing anything new and exciting, but it is very important. McCaffrey finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, and he is the most dynamic player the Hawkeyes have seen all season. I’m just as curious as you to see how this plays out.

Grade: F. This doesn’t need further explanation.

Get the ground game going

If you’ve watched a second of Iowa football this season, you know how much this offense hinges on the running game. Stanford gives up nearly 147 rushing yards per game, so there’s some potential for the Hawkeyes to move on this perfectly manicured grass. I’m excited to see if they can.

Grade: F. 48 yards total, a season low.