Stanford Football: 3 bold predictions against Oregon

2. Bryce Love is held to 150 yards rushing

Stanford running back Bryce Love is a classic case of “the back up may be better than the starter,” regarding 2016’s Stanford Cardinal starter Christian McCaffrey. I’m obviously joking. But Love is doing a great job replacing the legendary McCaffrey who is now a playmaker for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL. San Diego State’s defense held love to 185 rushing yards and is ranked close to Oregon’s sitting two spots below the Ducks defense at 43rd in the S&P+.

Love has done an incredible job making Cardinal fans forget about McCaffrey, but even the nation’s best back, Saquon Barkley, had an off game against the Northwestern Wildcats. Barkley has run for 600+ yards and six touchdowns on 6.4 yards per carry and obviously Love has run for 10.5 yards per carry.

The Oregon Ducks defense will give Love fits from their odd front look and all the tight ends in the world won’t stop Troy Dye. Dye has 52 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss and three sacks so far in 2017. Dye had 91 tackles and 12 tackles for a loss as a freshman in 2016. It looks like Dye will surpass those stats soon.

The Cardinal quarterbacks will have to improve from 6.91 and 7.39 yards per passing attempt because Jim Leavitt is going to load the box against Bryce Love and force the Cardinal to throw the football. It’s going to be a late night game the Cardinal and Ducks will have to battle out with a war of attrition.