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With the 2013 Rose Bowl just hours away, the MVP of the Grandaddy of them All looks to be a close contest. Redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Hogan is under center for the Stanford Cardinal, and if he can take the team to their first Rose Bowl victory since 1972 he'll have a good shot at the award.
Hogan took over mid-season for an inconsistent Josh Nunes, and his performance in the season's five games were a huge part of how Stanford ended up with the Pac-12 Championship the year after losing Andrew Luck. Hogan had a 72.2 completion percentage over that stretch, throwing for 964 yards and eight touchdowns with only three interceptions. He also proved to be a running threat, racking up 193 yards over those five games. That playmaking ability has been huge for Stanford; Hogan has a 7.1 yards per carry average on non-sack rush plays, and more than a third of his runs have gone for first downs.
Following Andrew Luck was bound to be a tough act for any Stanford quarterback, but in earning a trip to the Rose Bowl and the Pac-12 Championship, Hogan has taken the team somewhere Luck never could.
The 2013 Rose Bowl Game takes place on Tuesday, January 1 in Pasadena. Kickoff is at 5:00 p.m. PST, with television coverage provided by ESPN.