Iowa football: Five opposing players the Hawkeyes hate

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PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Christian McCaffrey #5 of the Stanford Cardinal gets past Greg Mabin #13 and Ben Niemann #44 of the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first quarter of the 102nd Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 2016 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Christian McCaffery, Stanford

The 2016 Rose Bowl should have just been called the Christian McCaffery show.

He absolutely destroyed the Iowa football team in Stanford’s beatdown of the Hawks after a relatively improbable undefeated regular-season run.

Figuratively, it felt like the Iowa football team was walking on ice when trying to tackle McCaffery, and after watching that game, I was truly in awe of McCaffery. I couldn’t believe one guy could make one team look so bad.

But he did.

He ran for 172 yards on just 18 carries for a 9.2 yard per carry average. Needless to say, he led the Stanford Cardinal in rushing yards. He also led the Cardinal in receiving and returning as well. McCaffery hauled in 4 catches for 105 yards and 1 touchdown while adding another 101 yards and 1 touchdown in the return game. Altogether, he totaled 378 all-purpose yards as the Iowa football fell to Stanford 45 to 16 in an embarrassing Rose Bowl loss.

Let’s be honest, he was the guy the beat the Iowa football team. For that reason, it’s tough to like the guy.

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