Fansided

College football rankings 2018: FanSided preseason Top 25

By Connor Muldowney

NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 01: Alabama Crimson Tide running back Damien Harris (34) runs with the football during the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers on January 1, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, LA. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 01: Alabama Crimson Tide running back Damien Harris (34) runs with the football during the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers on January 1, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, LA. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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SAN ANTONIO, TX – DECEMBER 28: Bryce Love #20 of the Stanford Cardinal looks at the scoreboard in the first half of the Valero Alamo Bowl against the TCU Horned Frogs at Alamodome on December 28, 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX – DECEMBER 28: Bryce Love #20 of the Stanford Cardinal looks at the scoreboard in the first half of the Valero Alamo Bowl against the TCU Horned Frogs at Alamodome on December 28, 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /

Two words: Bryce Love. The senior running back silenced all the critics in 2017 who said there was no way he could adequately replace all-everything running back Christian McCaffrey.

Replace him he did. As a junior and first-year starter, Love burst onto the scene with 2,118 yards and 19 touchdowns and he may have had a better shot to win the Heisman Trophy if the Cardinal were able to finish with 10-plus wins — they were just 9-5 with losses in the Pac-12 title game and Alamo Bowl.

Even with Love, Stanford’s offense ranked just 79th in the country and 10th in the Pac-12 in total yardage. Keller Chryst was more of a game-manager than anything else but he has since passed the reins to KJ Costello, a sophomore gunslinger with potential through the roof. He finished the 2017 season with 1,573 yards and 14 touchdown passes.

Costello will have a host of weapons, including Trenton Irwin, JJ Arcega-Whiteside, Osiris St. Brown, Colby Parkinson and Kaden Smith.

Stanford needs to get back to its normal defensive ways that it boasted in the first couple years of David Shaw. The Cardinal bring back six starters to a unit that ranked just 76th nationally. Still, this team has Pac-12 title potential.