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          Pac-12 Blog

          Iowa, Stanford let fun take over at final Rose Bowl media day

          • David Lombardi, ESPN Staff WriterDec 29, 2015, 10:10 PM
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            • Covers the Pac-12
            • Joined ESPN.com in 2014
            • Graduate of Stanford University
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          LOS ANGELES -- Iowa and Stanford square off in the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual on Friday. The final of three media day sessions took place Tuesday. All players and coaches from both teams were made available. Here's some material:

          Stanford right guard Johnny Caspers is the only Cardinal player with a connection to Iowa, and it's a strong bond: Both of his parents are Hawkeyes.

          Caspers, who grew up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, which is about two and a half hours from Iowa City. He frequently attended games growing up, so this Rose Bowl pairing is a perfect representation of the football allegiances Caspers has held in his lifetime.

          "It was a funny coincidence," Caspers said. "I just thought about my family and all the questions they'd be getting about who they'd be rooting for."

          But those aren't difficult questions anymore.

          "The family's allegiance is definitely all Cardinal at this point," Caspers smiled. - David Lombardi

          The news on Iowa tight end Jake Duzey could not have been much worse.

          The top 2014 pass-catcher among Big Ten tight ends with 36 receptions, Duzey said Tuesday that he ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee as the Hawkeyes practiced for the Rose Bowl last week in California.

          Iowa released information Sunday that Duzey would miss the bowl game and that he re-injured the knee on which he underwent surgery in April.

          Duzey tore the same tendon in spring practice and expected a three- to- four-month rehabilitation period. But it went more slowly -- and despite playing in nine games this fall, he did not record a catch.

          Before the second injury, Duzey said this month that he felt close to full speed and hoped to use the season finale as a springboard to reach an NFL training camp next summer.

          Now, he faces another operation. He said he would undergo surgery after returning next month to Iowa City.

          “It’s been a crazy couple days,” Duzey said. “We’re trying to see what my options are and just go from there, I guess.”

          As Duzey sat down near the conclusion of the Rose Bowl media session Tuesday, senior tight end Henry Krieger Coble held his crutches. In Duzey’s place, Krieger Coble has flourished this year with 32 catches for 385 yards.

          Krieger Coble stands a good chance to get a shot at the NFL. All 11 seniors to play tight end at Iowa under coach Kirk Ferentz have made an NFL roster.

          Duzey’s future in football looks much more unclear. - Mitch Sherman

          Stanford coach David Shaw said he was a fan of the physical style that former Iowa coach Hayden Fry installed at the school from 1979 to 1998.

          Shaw, 43, as the son of a coach -- his dad, Willie Shaw, coached as assistant for several colleges and NFL teams -- studied football from a young age.

          Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz coached under Fry from 1981 to 1989. Since taking over for Fry in 1999, Ferentz has largely kept in place the old-school approach to the game that Iowa played in the 1980s and ‘90s.

          “I have a lot of respect for what he’s done at Iowa,” Shaw said of Ferentz, “and for the way that Iowa has supported him.”

          Ferentz, set to complete his 17th season Friday, is the longest-tenured active coach in the FBS, alongside Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops. - Sherman

          Speaking of Ferentz and Shaw, they were both hired by the same man: Current Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby used to be the athletic director at Iowa and Stanford. We already spoke to Bowlsby about this Rose Bowl coincidence, and Ferentz commented on it Tuesday:

          Media day also provided a chance to catch up with Stanford defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, who suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the Cardinal's Week one loss at Northwestern. Stanford's defense started off smothering the Wildcats, but that quickly changed after Phillips' exit.

          "The tears just came rushing while I was sitting there," he said. "I couldn't do anything. ... Seeing that from the sidelines, that was really hard. I just felt so helpless."

          Phillips is slightly ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation efforts. He expects to be back at full-go in mid-April.

          "We definitely want to get back on track," he said. "We want people to start talking about the Stanford defense again." - Lombardi

          Other media day shenanigans involved Stanford kicker Conrad Ukropina acting as a TV reporter (video linked below) and a photo booth: