Stanford Football: 3 reasons Bryce Love should win 2017 Heisman Trophy

2. Love was Stanford’s offense

Stanford averaged 184.3 yards per game which was good for 98th in the nation. I know they played three quarterbacks with two mainly getting the serious playing time, but as a whole the Cardinal weren’t effective in the passing game.

Sophomore K.J. Costello gave the position more stabilization at the end of the season over senior Keller Chryst which helped the offense, but with Love in the game plan Stanford couldn’t do much in the moving the ball department.

I point to the Oregon State game to prove his worth — he missed the game battling an ankle injury that followed him the rest of the season. Stanford won 15-14 on the road, but only had 222 total yards.

Forty of the yards were on the last drive to get the win, but after watching that game I knew Love had to be placed in the Heisman race. Stanford averaged 390.1 yards a game for the season and in that game, gained 168 yard less than average all because Love was on the sideline.

Stanford averages 205.8 yards per game rushing and you can point to No. 20 for that. Love has 237 carries for 1,937 yards and 17 touchdowns on 8.3 yards a carry. Before his midseason injury, the junior averaged over 10 yards a carry. Yes, he averaged a first down a carry for the majority of the season — that is a heck of a feat.

To make is short and sweet if they didn’t have Love they wouldn’t have went 9-4 overall this year and won the Pac-12 North.