Bryce Love will be able to bolster his Heisman case on the field this weekend as opposed to off of it.
The lingering effects of an ankle injury kept Love out of No. 21 Stanford’s closer-than-expected win over Oregon State in Week 9. With a huge Pac-12 showdown with No. 25 Washington State looming in Week 10, the star running back has been given the go-ahead to return to the playing field Saturday afternoon.
.@Blovee_20 will play tomorrow at Washington State. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/eBtQerjiFj
— Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) November 3, 2017
Despite missing one full game, Love’s 1,387 yards rushing still leads the country. In fact, his nation-leading 198.1 yards per game is clear of Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate‘s 154.3 at No. 2 by a significant margin.
Love’s absence down on The Farm last Thursday night was certainly evident both on the scoreboard and on the stat sheet.
The Beavers came into that game with the 100th-ranked rushing defense in the country, giving up just a shade over 200 yards per game. Against that toothless run defense, the Cardinal managed 81 yards on 27 carries. Based on my math, that would be exactly three yards per carry.