College football: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

College football 2018: Biggest Achilles’ heel for every Top 25 team

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) celebrates and holds up the CFP Trophy after the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs on January 8, 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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14. Stanford

Achilles’ heel: K.J. Costello

Since the days of Andrew Luck, the quarterback position has never really been the heart of the Stanford Cardinal offense. They have continually found players that were good enough at the position, but not players who have been the unquestioned leaders and hearts of the unit on that side of the ball. That is unquestionably going to be the case again in the 2018 season, though that has more to do with Bryce Love than anyone else.

Love returns as arguably the best running back in college football at the start of this season. The Stanford superstar was an absolute force for the Cardinal last season, cementing himself in the Heisman Trophy conversation and ultimately carrying his teammates to a successful season — and frankly some wins that they otherwise may not have sniffed or come by so easily.

As the running back leads the way though, there is no doubt that defenses are going to be selling out to stop him. While that could mean simply game-planning more creative ways to get Love the ball this season than we saw last year, the easiest solution would be for quarterback K.J. Costello to take a step forward and make defenses respect him. That’s far from a given right now though.

Costello started as a sophomore last season and wasn’t awful with 14 touchdowns to four interceptions, throwing for 1,573 yards with a 58.8 percent completion rate in 11 games. However, he has to be better for the Cardinal to truly make noise this season. Not only will having a threat at quarterback simply make the offense better by itself, but it will also allow Love more room to operate and be the tremendous weapon that he is.