Heisman Trophy Watch 2017: An old favorite reemerges after Week 4

For the past two years, Stanford leaned on the versatile playmaking of Christian McCaffrey. Now that he is playing on Sundays in the NFL, the Cardinal were forced to move on from their multipurpose offensive threat and find a new star in the backfield. Bryce Love, who ran for over 700 yards last year as McCaffrey’s understudy, has already surpassed his career high in rushing yardage after just four games.

Love had his biggest game of the year in Saturday night’s #Pac12AfterDark win over UCLA. After putting up at least 160 yards in each of his first three games, Love exploded for 263 yards against the Bruins on 30 carries. He scored once in the win, bringing his season total to five rushing touchdowns. It was his heaviest workload of the season to date, as he provided nearly half of Stanford’s total offensive output on the night.

The team has had to supplement McCaffrey’s receiving and return production in other ways, as Love has pretty much depended on carries for all of his touches this season. Even so, he is third in the nation in all-purpose yardage behind only Saquon Barkley and Rashaad Penny. McCaffrey finished second in the Heisman voting in 2015, and Love looks capable of one-upping his former teammate to become Stanford’s first Heisman winner since Jim Plunkett in 1970.