In the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Love backed up Christian McCaffrey, a first-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. Love accumulated 1,009 rushing yards in these two seasons.

Love won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back. He won the Lombardi Award for 2017. He was a unanimous first team All American. The Pac-12 named Love its Offensive Player of the Year. Love also was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team. Like McCaffrey in 2015, Love was the runner-up for the 2017 Heisman Trophy.

Love had a break-out season in 2017 with 2,118 rushing yards. Love was second in the nation in rushing yards and in rushing yards per game. Love reached the 1,000-yard rushing mark in just the fifth game of the season. He had back-to-back games with over 250 rushing yards, making him only the second Pac-12 player to accomplish this (along with Reggie Bush). He ran for a school-record 301 yards in a game. Love ran for at least 100 yards in twelve of his thirteen games, leading all running backs in the nation.

In his senior season, Love was one of the team captains. He was put on several preseason All-American lists as well as preseason award watch lists. He missed some time due to injury, but managed to finish the year with 739 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. At the end of the season, he earned Pac-12 honorable mention. Love graduated from Stanford with a degree in human biology in 2019.

Prior to the draft, Love suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his final college game which lead to a concern amongst teams. He ultimately was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round, 112th overall, of the 2019 NFL Draft. He signed his rookie contract with the team on May 9, 2019. He was placed on the non-football injury list before the start of the season on August 31, 2019. He was active for a few games in 2020 before being placed on injured reserve on October 2.