Bryce Love might lead the nation in rushing yards per game by a 35-yard cushion over his next closest competitor, but Washington State head coach Mike Leach doesn’t think the Stanford junior is even the best running back in the Pac-12 Conference.

On his weekly teleconference Monday, Leach rated Oregon State junior Ryan Nall as the best.

“We’ve got a lot of great running backs in this conference,” he said when asked about Love, whom the No. 18 Cardinal hope to have back when they visit the No. 25 Cougars at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. “I actually think the one at Oregon State is the best one in the conference.

“First of all, he’s big (6-2, 237). Second of all, he’s faster than you think. Third of all, he’s very elusive. The other thing is, the guy catches the ball really well. The guy blocks pretty good.”

He said, “Everybody in the stadium knows that he’s going to get the ball,” although the same is true of Love.

Because of an ankle injury, Love sat out Thursday night’s 15-14 win at Oregon State, during which Nall had 84 yards in 19 carries and caught two passes for 2 yards. For the season, Nall has rushed for 597 yards in 105 carries (5.7 average) for the last-place Beavers (1-7, 0-5 Pac-12).

Love has rushed for 1,387 yards to lead the nation. The Heisman Trophy candidate also leads all runners with 198.1 yards per game, followed by Navy’s Zach Abey at 163.1. Love’s lowest output was 147 against Oregon, a game in which he hadonly one carry in the second half.

Leach also downplayed David Shaw’s role in leading Stanford to national prominence and said recruiting for the university isn’t difficult.

“David Shaw’s a good coach, but Jim Harbaugh built” that program, Leach said.

Of course, Shaw was Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator. There’s no question that Harbaugh turned around the Cardinal football fortunes. In his fourth and final season, Stanford went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl. Still, he did not win a conference title at Stanford. Shaw has won three in six years. Shaw has taken the Cardinal to bowl games in each of his six seasons, including three Rose Bowls.

Referring to Stanford’s recruiting, Leach said, “I know everybody wants to sing the blues and act like they have the toughest uphill battle there is. I always thought that recruiting for Stanford would be pretty good.” Any recruit who excels academically “will listen to Stanford.”

Leach said Luke Falk will start at quarterback for the Cougars (7-2, 4-2 Pac-12) against the Cardinal (6-2, 5-1). Leach replaced Falk with backup Tyler Hilinski late in the first half of Saturday night’s 58-37 loss at Arizona. Hilinski passed for 509 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two more, but threw four interceptions.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald

TV time

Stanford’s Pac-12 North Division game Saturday at No. 25 Washington State will begin at 12:30 p.m. and be televised by Fox.