They're the first and second runners-up in college football's bowl-game beauty pageant, teams with great looks and personality that came within a two-point conversion and a fourth-down stop of playing for a national championship.
Fifth-ranked Iowa and sixth-ranked Stanford will meet in the 102nd Rose Bowl on Friday, one day after Oklahoma plays Clemson and Michigan State plays Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinals Thursday night.
The timing of the traditional New Year's Day game could give Iowa-Stanford the feel of a consolation-bracket game, the look of a plate of leftovers after a New Year's Eve feast.