Stanford's Bryce Love has no Heisman expectations

STANFORD - The approach on The Farm for this weekend's Heisman Trophy ceremony appears to be: “It's an honor just to be nominated.”

Stanford will send a candidate to New York City for the fifth time since 2009, when running back Toby Gerhart finished as the runner-up to Alabama's Mark Ingram by the closest margin in history of the award, a mere 28 votes.

Quarterback Andrew Luck lost out the next two years to Auburn's Cam Newton and Baylor's Robert Griffin III, respectively.

It was running back Christian McCaffrey's turn to finish second to Alabama's Derrick Henry in 2015.

Now it's Stanford junior Bryce Love headed for the spotlight in the Big Apple, where it's quite likely the 5-foot-10, 195-pound running back will find himself in the audience applauding as Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, the presumptive favorite, steps up to the podium on Saturday night.

Apparently, that's not a doomsday scenario for the Cardinal.

“Whether or not everybody says you're the best or not, being in that discussion I think is truly special, and I know Bryce and his family feel that way,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “This is a blessing, this is an honor and there is not going to be any negativity towards this thing, even from my standpoint. This is just a great opportunity to recognize a young man that's had an outstanding year.”

Last year's winner, Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, rounds out the three finalists.

“I'm honored,” Love said. “I'm happy and obviously I'm excited for it. And I'm thankful for the teammates that helped me get there, the coaches and everybody involved.”

He added: “It really makes me think about all the work and all the long days and all the teammates and everybody who's done things for me. It really touches me and puts things into perspective.”

To get to this point, Stanford employed the hashtag #HeismanLove on Twitter and created the website BryceLove20.com to promote his résumé, both on and off the field.

On the first play of the season back on Aug. 26 in Sydney, Australia, he busted out a 62-yard run. That was merely a sign of things to come.

Love set an FBS record this year with 12 carries of 50-plus yards - 10 of those for touchdowns. He's second in the nation at 164.4 rushing yards per game and averages 8.3 yards per carry.

He doesn't even need another 50-yard burst at the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28 to eclipse the single-season school record for rushing yards set by McCaffrey in 2015. Not to mention, Love already stole his single-game record with the first-ever 300-yard rushing game by a Cardinal at the end of September.

Is that enough to push him over the top after his predecessors garnered runner-up status? Does it matter?

“Excited about this opportunity for him, and it's not just about winning the award,” Shaw said. “It's about the recognition across the nation of what he accomplished this year. … Nearly 2,000 yards where half the season he's running on a high ankle sprain. A thousand yards in five games, unbelievable. Over 8 yards a carry, unbelievable. Just all of those explosive plays, a 300-yard rushing game, unheard of.”

Shaw added: “Lastly, and least importantly, just excited about program-wise to say that in the last eight years, five times we've had a player that's in the discussion for the best player in America.”

Nearly the best, to be exact.

Close, but not cigar. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

The only thing that's not turned into a cliché is Love himself.

“You have a few guys on your team every year that you start to talk about him and you start to wonder if people actually believe what you say because it doesn't sound real,” Shaw said.

“Oh, and by the way, he's pre-med. Taking biology classes this past summer he worked in the stem cell lab doing stem cell research. He wants to be pediatrician, to be a doctor for young people. And every single day he smiles, no matter how much pain he's in. He loves life, he's a positive influence on everyone he meets. He's just one of those guys in college football that we need to tell more stories about.”

If the past repeats itself, Love will flash that smile of his while Mayfield recites a speech as winner of the 83rd Heisman Trophy.

The votes are already cast, and Shaw didn't care to plead his case on Monday.

“I don't talk about should or shouldn't,” said Shaw, who mentioned that he'd be fascinated to see what Love could've accomplished if he didn't suffer a high ankle sprain midway through the season. “It's an award with people who vote, so they can vote their conscience. I'm excited that Bryce is included among the best in the nation, because I think he's earned that, I think he deserves that.”

In a way, is it an honor just to be nominated?

___

Love guesstimated he was 3 or 4 years old during his only previous visit to NYC.

“It's been a while,” he said.

Asked for a wish list of sights and sounds, he couldn't pick just one.

“Everything will be cool to me,” Love said. “I want to see how a big city is like that, really, I guess. How busy it is. It will be cool to compare it to here and where I'm from, so it will be interesting.”

___

McCaffrey left for the NFL after three years at Stanford. Love is also eligible to declare for the 2018 NFL Draft within the same timeline.

Will he stay, or will he go?

“The thing is he's a junior, he's young, it's a big jump and he could make more physical development,” Shaw said. “And on the flip side, what he's shown on game day is that he's ready for it. This is not scatback that we toss the ball outside to all the time. The majority of his runs are going from tackle to tackle. It's inside, it's right through the middle, he's breaking tackles, he's bouncing off guys, he's outrunning people.

“He's shown the ability to be able to succeed at that next level, so there are arguments on both sides. It would be great to come back and have more development, be a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger. But at the same time, he's not going to get that much bigger that he's going to be a different person. He is who he is. He could go out and be successful, he could come back and have it work out for him either way.”

___

This is the 25th anniversary of the Alamo Bowl.

No. 15 Stanford (9-4) makes its debut appearance at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, while No. 13 TCU (10-3) prevailed 47-41 in triple overtime against Oregon on Jan. 2, 2016.

It's matchup between the runners-up in the Pac-12 and Big 12 championship games.

“There was a buzz,” Shaw said of announcing the matchup to his players. “There's one thing about our guys, they love challenges. And all these guys have been watching the polls all year, and TCU has always been up there.”