Bryce Love Has Worst Game Of Career, Gets Just 29 Yards In 18 Carries
By Dave Levine
I was there at the game with a 20-yard-line seat. Bryce Love and the Stanford running game really stunk up the place. Without starting Center Jesse Burkett, Love was often hit in the backfield. Even with a fullback, nothin’ doin’! We all watched the Heisman dreams for Love go up in smoke.
I watched Love walking off the field at the end of the half and he wasn’t limping but he wasn’t walking perfectly normally, either. He looked like “a beaten man”. A groin, perhaps? Whatever the reason, Bryce Love and the Stanford offensive line just couldn’t contend with the swarming San Diego defense which very much resembled the Kansas State defense that played Stanford tough in Stanford’s first home game last year.
Love was taken out with Stanford up 31-10 in the fourth quarter. Scarlett didn’t fare much better.
One has to take one’s hat off to the San Diego State defense for a job well done–on Love.
How long will Burkett be out? Shaw and Burkett know but we won’t be told. But for the Stanford running game to get back to where it was last year, Burkett needs to return.
The big question regarding Love isn’t “why” he wasn’t hitting the holes with the speed he had last year on 1.5 legs. The question remains: Why won’t Shaw use Love as a receiver? Is Love really that bad of a receiver? Wouldn’t passing to Love in the flat (which Costello did ONCE last night) be something that would “loosen up” defenses?
