Stanford, Bryce Love present tough task for Oregon State
With a Heisman Trophy contender coming to Corvallis on Thursday, Oregon State's defense looking to play with fire.
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When you are a member of the Pac-12 conference, there are no weeks off. Everyone in the conference has big time talent that is contending for either a national award or a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Whether it's Luke Falk, Josh Rosen, Myles Gaskin, Sam Darnold, or Khalil Tate, this conference is loaded with talent.
But perhaps the best one of them all is coming to Reser Stadium on Thursday.
His name is Bryce Love, and he’s one of the leading finalists for the Heisman Trophy.
Love was mostly an understudy to current Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey during his first two years on the farm, but now that he had gotten his chance to be the lead back, he’s taken that opportunity and ran full speed with it.
Through seven games, Love leads the NCAA in total yards (1387), is tied for seventh in touchdowns (seven) and leads the nation in yards per game (198.1).
Translation? Love is really good at football and the Beavers will have to find a herculean type effort in order to have a chance to pull off the upset.
Oregon State defensive coordinator Kevin Clune noted that stopping Love is one of the toughest things the Beavers will have to do all season.
“You work on tackling and fitting up your gaps,” Clune said. “The guys have to tackle him and tackle him hard.”
In addition to Love’s incredible talent, it helps that Stanford runs and offense that lines up eight offensive lineman from time-to-time.
“It used to be what everyone ran, but now everyone is spread out and (Stanford) has stayed old school,” Clune said. “Now we have to reteach the kids, ‘That guy between the quarterback and running back is a fullback’. This is something very unique (in today’s football).”
Defensive back Isaiah Dunn added this thoughts on how Stanford’s offense presents a challenge to any opposing defense.
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“Stanford’s formations are key and it’s their big thing,” Dunn said. “We have to line up in the right spots and understand the formation. Knowing that they run a lot, I can’t catch myself running in, but rather making sure I’m in the right position if (Love) cuts back.”
Linebacker Bright Ugwoegbu said that Love is truly a one of a kind athlete and he will be very difficult for the Beavers to contain.
“With an athlete like that, you can never be too comfortable,” Ugwoegbu said. “Anytime he gets the ball in space, he has the advantage because he is really good between the tackles. He goes north and south, not east and west. We have to be stout and stop him whenever he tries to come at us.”
However, I take Love’s numbers with a small grain of salt. Sure, he’s arguably the best running back in college football other than Penn State’s Saquon Barkley. But the difference for Love is, he plays in an offense that constantly features the run.
While I believe it's more of a choice to run the ball rather than necessity, the Beavers have to try and load the box to stop Love and force one of Stanford’s three QB’s to throw the ball.
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Stanford has had a revolving door at quarterback with Ryan Burns, KJ Costello, and Keller Chryst all being unable to secure the spot on a consistent basis.
If OSU is going to come out with a win against the Cardinal, they need to load up and force Stanford to beat them through the air.
“We are going with heavier packages and shying away from more defensive backs on the field and trying to get more big guys out there,” Ugwoegbu said. “We have to be able to handle their big front.”