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The Beatles once sang "Love is All You Need," and for Stanford, Love was all they needed to beat Arizona State.
Stanford should've been leading by a lot more than seven at half. The Cardinal were only forced to punt once, and Bryce Love was virtually impossible to stop. Love had two touchdown runs for 61 and 43 yards and finished the half with 159 yards on just 9 carries. Meanwhile, K.J. Costello threw for 155 yards. Still despite the offense clicking, Arizona State stayed within reach because of a crucial Cardinal turnover and the Stanford rush defense.
Driving in the first quarter, K.J. Costello found Dalton Shultz deep in the red zone, and it looked like Stanford would take a 14-0 lead. However, Shultz fumbled the ball, and Stanford's defense allowed a field goal on the ensuing drive.
On that particular drive and throughout the half, the Stanford defense struggled to stop the run. In fact, with 161 yards, Arizona State out rushed Stanford in the first half.
However, things seemed to change for Stanford's defense in the second half. Alijah Holder returned after being suspended in the first half, and the defense forced two straight three and outs, which set up a 59 yard touchdown run by Bryce Love.
After Love's touchdown run, not much happened. Justin Reid intercepted his second pass of the day, Jake Bailey had a long run on a fake punt, and Bryce Love was Bryce Love.
Soon enough, Arizona State scored midway through the fourth quarter, and the Cardinal were only up by one score.
Needing to run down the clock or score, Bryce Love stepped up yet again. He churned out yards and set up Stanford's final field goal, making the game 34-24 with just over two minutes remaining.
The Sun Devils then missed a 59 yard field goal, and the Cardinal kneed for a victory.
K.J. Costello had a solid performance and threw for 173 yards, the defense stepped up in the second half, but ultimately, Bryce Love single handedly won this game. He rushed for 301 yards, which broke Christian McCaffrey's single game rushing record, and he proved that he deserves to be in the Heisman discussion. Last time I checked, there wasn't anyone else besides Love who has 1000+ rushing yards.