Two weeks ago Christian McCaffrey was at Radio City Music Hall along with sophomore quarterback DeShaun Watson of Clemson, and junior running back Derrick Henry of Alabama. The three college football standouts earned the invitation to hopefully be crowned the 81st Heisman Trophy winner. Despite his dynamic record setting season, McCaffrey ended up the runner up to Derrick Henry, who became the newest member of the Heisman fraternity. Even though he faced probably his only disappointment all season, he used that moment to fuel his competitive fire against the fifth ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in the “Granddaddy of them all”, the Rose Bowl.
On the first play from scrimmage for his Stanford Cardinal squad, McCaffrey reeled in a 75 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Hogan. The touchdown was the longest of his exciting career. The explosiveness did not stop there though. A couple minutes later, the sophomore Stanford stud fielded a punt return, made a couple cuts to the left side of the field, and then followed his convoy to pay-dirt for a 66 yard return. Both touchdowns were just the start of a historic night as he broke Stanford’s single season rushing record (2,109 yards) by rushing for 172 yards, became the first player in Rose Bowl history to rush for over a hundred yards and receive for over a hundred yards, and he set the Rose Bowl record for all purpose yards with 368. McCaffrey’s superhuman effort helped lead the Cardinal to a 45-16 thrashing of Iowa. Keep in mind the game was really over at halftime as Stanford shut out the Hawkeyes 35-0.
Stanford Head Coach David Shaw said of McCaffrey’s performance “What can you say? It’s just what he does. He gets angry on the sideline when we take him out to give him a breather and he just stares at me waiting for me to put him back in the game.”
McCaffrey’s stellar game will most likely land him on the preseason Heisman Watch List for the next football season. With his 2015 campaign over, the bar is set for him to be that much spectacular come next season. The sky is the limit for Christian McCaffrey.