Stanford Football: What does Bryce Love need to do to prove he’s nation’s best?
All the pieces are in place for Stanford football to be a real contender for the College Football Playoff in 2018 behind running back Bryce Love.
Stanford football’s Pac-12 Championship aspirations largely hang on the performance of a superstar running back from Wake Forest, N.C., Bryce Love. For them to get over the hump to win the conference, he needs to be just as good as he was last year, which is asking an awful lot out of one rusher.
In 2017, Love finished second in the Heisman voting, only behind Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield. Love averaged more than 8.0 yards per carry as part of a massive junior campaign. It’s somewhat surprising that Love elected to head back to school for his senior season since he had a record breaking junior year.
This upcoming season, Love is expected to be among the nation’s best college football players. He likely also enters the season as the Heisman favorite. As far as the Pac-12 is concerned, only Washington Huskies rusher Myles Gaskin compares to the pedigree that Love sits on. And, Wisconsin Badgers running back Jonathan Taylor might be the only other at this position that’ll contend with Love in the Heisman race.
Moreover, watch out for Ohio State Buckeyes running back J.K. Dobbins to make a real impact on college football fans around the country this year. If Love does manage to fly under the radar, compared to the rest of the nation’s top players, it’s mainly because of his quiet personality.
In terms of Love’s performance itself, there needs to be a similar stat line to what he did last year. If totaling nearly 20 touchdowns and eclipsing the 2,000 rushing yard mark in 2017 was not enough to reel in the Heisman, it’s obvious there’s something left to be desired.
Athlon Sports ranked Love as the third best player in the nation entering the 2018 campaign, only behind two defensive lineman in Ed Oliver of the Houston Cougars and Christian Wilkins of the Clemson Tigers. Love is the highest ranked offensive player in that list.
The most impressive part of Love’s career stat line comes from his yards per carry. He’s never averaged less than 7.0 yards per carry in any season in his college career. Even when he was playing behind former superstar Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey, he played great.
Much of the success Love can see in 2018 comes from how good head coach David Shaw’s squad is this year. Stanford has the potential to win the Pac-12 Championship, as long as they can get past the Huskies in the North Division. So much of that will fall back on what Love is able to do.
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If Love can take the Cardinal to the next level altogether, he’ll receive a lot more praise, and hype across the college football world. His individual performance is very obviously important, but how he can contribute to the success of the entire team is what can really elevate his status to becoming the nation’s best player overall.