Stanford Football: 3 takeaways from Cardinal win over UCLA

Stanford football got a much-needed win Saturday night, beating the UCLA Bruins 58-34 at home.

Stanford knew they could not lose three straight. An 0-2 start in conference would pretty much be the end of their hopes of winning the conference. The Cardinal said that was not going to happen and beat the Bruins convincingly by 24 points. Stanford has now won 10 games in a row against UCLA.

The Stanford rushing attack was the key to the victory, however the Cardinal may have finally found a passing attack with a third string quarterback. The game was also slowed down by a slew of penalties.  The two teams combined for 25 penalties and each had a player ejected for targeting, with two more targeting calls overturned.

Let’s take a look at three takeaways from tonight’s Cardinal victory.

3. Stanford running back Bryce Love is unreal

It is not like we did not know this, but running back Bryce Love is good. Real good. The Bruins held him in check for about a quarter, however it was only so long Love could be held down. He started to break out in the second quarter and finished the first half with 106 yards on 14 carries.

In the second half, he had some big runs, including a 69-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter seal the deal for Stanford. He finished the game with 30 rushes for 263 yards and the score. Backup running back Cameron Scarlett benefited from spelling Love, scoring three touchdowns. The Cardinal rushing attack brutalized the Bruins for over 400 yards on the ground.

It is certainly fun to watch Love do his thing. Love already has more yards in four games this year than he did all of last season. He has a chance to break one each time he touches the ball and is just going to continue to get better as the season continues.