Stanford Football: Cardinal rule Bryce Love out vs. Utah in Week 6

It’s been a difficult season for Stanford football running back Bryce Love who has been ruled out in Week 6 against Utah in a Pac-12 battle.

Having already sat out a Week 3 contest with UC-Davis, Cardinal head coach David Shaw ruled Love out for Saturday night’s key Pac-12 battle with Utah just before kickoff.

Love has struggled this year outside of a strong performance a month ago in a win over USC when he ran for 136 yards on 22 carries — both season highs for the reigning Heisman Trophy runner-up.

After the performance vs. the Trojans, though, Stanford opted to sit Love with key games at Oregon and Notre Dame on deck. He returned to run for 89 yards in an overtime win vs. the Ducks, adding 73 last week as Stanford fell to the Irish.

Love took over the running back job in 2017 and promptly ran for 2,118 yards on 263 carries with 19 touchdowns. He averaged over eight yards per carry and was mentioned as a possible first round NFL draft pick.

Instead of heading to the pros, though, Love opted to return to Stanford for one final season.

The 5-foot-10, 200-pound North Carolina native missed just one game last year and was held under 100 yards only one time, racking up a strong of seven consecutive performances in 2017 to open the year in which he ran for at least 147 yards.

Love had a career-high 301 yards on 25 carries vs. Arizona State, a week after going for 263 on 30 attempts. Despite his size, he showed his durability with seven games last year in which he carried the ball at least 20 times.

The Cardinal offense has been able to overcome the loss of Love this season thanks to K.J. Costello, who is completing 62 percent of his passes for 1,230 yards with 11 touchdowns.

Cameron Scarlett and Trevor Speights have subbed in for Love in the backfield. Scarlett has 25 carries, but Speights has 102 yards.

Stanford is 4-1 on the year, including a pair of conference victories. They are tied with Washington atop the North. Utah is 2-2 and 0-2 in the league.