Stanford RB Bryce Love returning from injury for Oregon game

Stanford running back Bryce Love will return to action Saturday against Oregon after missing a game last week with an undisclosed injury, head coach David Shaw said Tuesday.

"Bryce is great," Shaw said, responding to a question on the Pac-12 coaches teleconference. "He's ready to go and fired up for this weekend."

Love left in the fourth quarter of Stanford's 17-3 win over USC on Sept. 8 with an apparent injury. After the game against USC, Shaw told ESPN's Edward Aschoff that if Stanford had needed Love, he would have been able to finish the game. "With the game in hand, we weren't going to put him back out there."

But Stanford elected to hold Love out of the next game, a 30-10 win over UC-Davis, last Saturday. While Love watched from the sidelines in a uniform and hoodie, Stanford was never able to establish the run against its FCS opponent, rushing for only 137 yards on 33 carries.

Shaw indicated that they were trying to allow Love, who rushed for 2,118 yards last season and finished second in Heisman Trophy voting, to get fully healthy again for the Cardinal's first road game of the year at No. 20 Oregon.

"The game against USC was a physical game and (Love) took a lot of shots," Shaw said. "It was good to get him a chance to recover."