If there was a surprise Saturday night at the end of the hour-long Heisman trophy presentation on ESPN, it was that Oklahoma fifth-year quarterback Baker Mayfield won running away from Stanford junior Bryce Love.
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The Cardinal running back has spent all season leaving defenders in his wake with his incredible vision, toughness and Olympic-sprinter speed. But Mayfield opened too much of a lead over a limping Love in the last month of the season for the result to be in doubt Saturday.
Love earned the respect of many people across the country for his gritty determination to stay on the field despite being in pain due to an ankle injury he suffered against Oregon Oct. 14. One of the more significant what-if scenarios of the season for Love is if he had been healthy enough to play at Oregon State the following week.
Undoubtedly he would have surpassed 2,000 yards rushing for the season and 20 touchdowns would have been within reach. Nice round numbers are helpful come award season.
But the admiration of peers is better than any statistic.
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Love's second place finish gives Stanford six since the Heisman finalist era began in 1982, and fittingly the first runner-up was Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Love joins Toby Gerhart (2009), Andrew Luck (2010 and 2011) and Christian McCaffrey (2015) to continue an incredible stretch of Cardinal players being recognized among the best in the country.
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Stanford has more second place finishes in the Heisman than any other football program. And truth be told, Love's runner-up vote total didn't spark the outrage among fans compared to when it happened to McCaffrey, Luck and Gerhart. The writing had been on the wall long enough for everyone to read it and adjust expectations.
That being said, some people took it better than others.
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The positive of each time a Stanford player has been invited to the Heisman ceremony is that the country was introduced to a great representative of the program, university and, as head coach David Shaw has put it, an example of what college football is supposed to be about.
The media marveled at Love's high school GPA (4.5) being higher than his 40-yard dash (4.3) and that he's a human biology major with his sights set on being a pediatrician.
Love exudes class and he carried himself in a way that made his coaches and teammates proud. Moral victories may not be allowed on the field, but they are when it comes to subjective awards that give a platform to share the good work of a true student-athlete.
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