By Morris Phillips

PALO ALTO, CA–Less than a year after Coach David Shaw was forced to step out of character, and heap platitudes on one member of his Stanford football team, the coach who preaches selflessness and teamwork, had to do it again.

This time Shaw had a plan, one he executed in his first utterings to the media after Stanford bludgeoned Arizona State, 34-24 on Saturday.

“The opening statement is Bryce Love, and the answer to every question is Bryce Love,” Shaw declared.

Love had himself a day, rushing for a school-record 301 yards and three touchdowns, surpassing the previous record of 284 yards, set by Christian McCaffrey in November. Love also became only the third FBS back since 2004 to top 1,000 yards rushing in his team’s first five games, joining Northern Illinois’ Garrett Wolfe (2006) and Leonard Fournette (2015).

Folks, that 1,000 yards just days after the official end of summer. Given that, Shaw couldn’t help himself. Like he did when describing the running style of the Heisman trophy runner-up, McCaffrey, Shaw had a few, additional things to say about the guy who last season was merely McCaffrey’s backup.

“He runs physical, he runs tough, and if he breaks a tackle, he’s gone,” Shaw gushed. “I’ve never seen anybody get hit and stumble and then get back up full speed. I’ve just never seen that before. It’s unbelievable.”

Unquestionably, this was the perfect storm, but that didn’t necessarily mean that Love would be perfect.  But he was.  Two weeks ago, Arizona State’s beleaguered defense surrendered 216 yards to San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny, and ASU Coach Todd Graham conceded during the week that Love would provide an even bigger challenge.

From Stanford’s perspective, quarterback stability is often the last piece to the puzzle, and they appear to have that, with K.J. Costello, the sophomore who made his first college start on Saturday, after his eye-opening second half of football against UCLA last week. Combine Costello’s emergence with the Cardinal’s offensive line having what Shaw said was their best performance to date, and Love was basically off and running from the opening kickoff.

Less than two minutes into the game, Love went 61 yards for a score, motoring past Sun Devils’ defenders like a speeding commuter on 101 during rush hour.

Early in the second quarter, Love knifed through the line, then broke outside on his way to a 43-yard score down the sideline.

Then early in third quarter, Love broke free up the middle, and ran 59 yards untouched for his final score.

“Every play that he broke, we had someone there, unblocked, and couldn’t tackle him,” Graham said. “You have to give him a lot of credit. He’s very, very good.”

But the run that had everyone talking was Love’s final one of the afternoon, a 7-yard run that was all effort and will, and ended with three ASU defenders with hands on the running back.