A day after suffering a heart breaking loss to Michigan State that knocked them out of the College Football Playoff the Iowa Hawkeyes landed a spot in the Rose Bowl to play Stanford.
It is Iowa’s first trip to Pasadena since 1991 and was secured after the Hawkeyes were ranked fifth in the final playoff rankings, two spots ahead of Ohio State.
After leading the Hawkeyes to a pair of Orange Bowl appearances Kirk Ferentz takes the Hawks to Pasadena for the first time.
“We are just absolutely thrilled to get the news today about being invited to the Rose Bowl and to play Pac-12 champion Stanford”, said Ferentz. “The Rose Bowl is the granddaddy of them all and you think about the Rose Bowl you think about tradition and I think equally important our fans are excited about the opportunity.”
Pac-12 champion Stanford is 11-2 and the Cardinal were sixth in the final College Football Playoff Poll.