SALT LAKE CITY – Carving up defenses is a Bryce Love trademark. Love has a knack for finding a crease, hitting the hole and turning on the jets for one big gain after another.

Utah’s stout run defense forced the Stanford junior to take a patient approach on Saturday night. The Utes bottled up Love for several long stretches and forced him to chip away and grind for a yard or two here and there.

Related Articles Pac-12 football: After discouraging delay, October restart remains in play

Time for the Pac-12 to get bold and get moving: Let teams play on Halloween if they can do it safely

Pac-12 football will be back in 2020, but the specifics remain a mystery

Pac-12 football: Cal, Stanford working to return but local health officials must sign off

Cal alum C.J. Anderson retires, knows what he wants to do next Love found it tougher to generate yards against Utah compared to what he experienced through most of the Cardinal’s first five games. But the junior found a way to come through when it mattered most for Stanford.

Highlighted by a 68-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, Love rushed for 152 yards on 20 carries in Stanford’s 23-20 win over the no. 20 Utes before a sellout crowd of 45,991 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

He now has 1,240 total yards on 118 carries in six games.

“It’s just a testament to our offense,” Love said, noting that facing the Cardinal defense in practice prepares him well for these types of games. “We’re really big on grinding it out for however long it takes and we just need one opportunity to make something happen. The line trusts me when they give me a crease that I have to hit it and get what I can. That’s really my job.” For more Pac-12 coverage

follow Pac-12 Hotline on Flipboard.

It marked Stanford’s first win over Utah since the Utes joined the Pac-12 in 2011. Love played a huge role in getting the Cardinal their first victory in Salt Lake City since 1995.

In the first half, he gained just eight total yards on his first nine carries. Then on his tenth carry, Love lived up to his big play reputation. He finally found a hole and immediately burst down the sideline and shredded the Utes for a 39-yard run. It set up a 7-yard keeper by Keller Chryst on the next play to give Stanford its first touchdown and a 10-7 lead.

The Utes stayed within striking distance while trading field goals with the Cardinal. Love partially closed the door on those comeback hopes with his long fourth quarter touchdown run. Once again, he turned a little crease into a big play. Love stumbled for a bit after breaking through the line, but stayed on his feet and raced the remainder of the 68 yards untouched for the score.

It gave the Cardinal their largest lead at 23-13 with 12:02 left. For Love, it marked his eighth straight game with a touchdown run longer than 50 yards. This one felt even more spectacular because it came against the Pac-12’s top rush defense.

“You look at their personnel and it’s like an NFL defense,” Stanford coach David Shaw said. “Big guys all over the place. They can all hit. They can all tackle. We knew with enough opportunities Bryce Love was going to break one or two of them out and he did that.”

Chryst returned to the lineup for the first time since getting injured against UCLA. He alternated with K.J. Costello under center with great success. The two quarterbacks combined for 188 yards on 13-of-24 passing and 42 yards on six carries.

Shaw said the focus on Love allowed Chryst and Costello to successfully attack the defense on several read option plays.

“There’s not a lot of clean places to run the ball,” Shaw said. “So on our first touchdown the quarterback had to pull it. We pulled a couple of them today and got positive yards on the quarterbacks legs.”

Troy Williams, filling in for injured starter Tyler Huntley, made his first start of the season at quarterback for Utah. Williams finished with 228 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions on 20-of-39 passing.

Stanford took a 3-0 lead on a 21 yard field goal from Jet Toner to cap off its opening drive.

The Cardinal initially caught the Utes on their heels. Kaden Smith hauled in a catch, broke a couple of tackles and raced 54 yards down to the Utah 12. Bryce Love ripped off a run into the end zone on the next play, but an illegal motion penalty wiped out the score. A second penalty followed and Stanford eventually settled for three points.

Trading a touchdown for a field goal stunted Stanford’s momentum for a while. Utah took advantage, going ahead 7-3 on a 2-yard run from Zack Moss after Moss piled up 26 yards on back-to-back runs to open the drive.

The Cardinal finally surged ahead after Love overcame his slow start and Chryst scored. Stanford never trailed again after that point.

Stanford continued to stay a step ahead even as the game bogged down into a field goal contest stretching into the fourth quarter. Toner gave the Cardinal the upper hand. He made a 46-yarder just before halftime and tacked on another from 29 yards out in the third quarter to put Stanford up 16-10.

Utah narrowed it to 16-13 deficit on a 30-yard field goal from Matt Gay. The Utes could not close the gap again after Love’s touchdown, however, until the final minute, thanks to a pair of alert defensive plays by the Cardinal.

Utah drove deep into Stanford territory on the following drive after Love scored. A 24-yard catch and run by Darren Carrington moved them down to the Cardinal 25. Quenton Marks ended the threat when he intercepted a tipped ball at the Stanford 16.

Williams then threw another interception on the first play of Utah’s ensuing drive. Justin Reid hauled in the ball at the Stanford 43 to effectively slam the door on a Utes comeback.

Reid credited the coaching staff with making the right adjustments so the secondary felt like they could anticipate every route Utah ran in the fourth quarter.

“Guys were all over the ball entire time, especially in coverage,” Reid said. “We were locking up receivers.”

Utah did finally close the gap on Carrington’s 18-yard touchdown catch with 44 seconds left on a drive kept alive by two Cardinal targeting penalties. Stanford recovered a subsequent onside kick to run out the clock.