Stanford Football: Bryce Love is 2017 Offensive MVP for the Cardinal

Stanford football was pleasantly surprised with a certain running back in 2017 who filled in for Christian McCaffrey. His name is Bryce Love.

Stanford finished the season 9-4 overall and is ranked No. 13 in the nation. The Cardinal lost a thriller in the Pac-12 Championship Game to USC, 31-28, in regulation. Maybe if Stanford kicks the chip-shot field goal earlier in the quarter they win the game, but you can’t blame David Shaw for going for the win — you can’t play scared to get ahead in life.

In spite of averaging 32 points per game for the season, if you watch this offense they are far from a juggernaut. They are 32nd in the nation in rushing yards at 205.8 per game and that’s because of the dynamic performance of junior running back Bryce Love.

Love is a Heisman finalist and I also wrote about why he should win the Heisman on Saturday and that is why he is the Cardinal’s Offensive MVP in 2017. This guy had some heavy shoes to fill in now NFL-er Christian McCaffrey — and he filled them to perfection.

Throughout the season, Love put this offense on his back and you can see it with his final numbers. He is only 27 yards away from 2,000 on the year and he will have a chance to break that against No. 15 TCU in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28.

Bryce Love’s 2017 stats:

Love had 237 rushes for 1,973 yards and 17 touchdowns on 8.3 yards per carry. He also earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year for his 2017 performance. In a conference with Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, that is a heck of an accomplishment.

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Besides the game he didn’t play, he only had one game where he didn’t break 100 yards and just think about it, every team knows he is the vocal point of the offense and he still performs at a high level. He might be following in McCaffrey’s footsteps sooner than later, so Stanford faithful enjoy him while you have him.