USC Football RB Travis Dye knew Austin Jones would ball out at UCLA

When Travis Dye went down with a knee injury against Colorado, and USC Football was looking to turn to Austin Jones as the RB1, many panicked. Many worried about if Jones was not ready to handle the starting role. I didn't, however, and neither did Dye himself. Check out what Dye told Jones before the UCLA game on Saturday:

Dye clearly knew what type of player Jones was, and what kind of performance was coming from him. And he most certainly should have. Coming into the rivalry game, Jones was averaging 6.4 yards per carry and 11.2 yards per reception.

Those two marks were both actually higher than Dye's. They stayed higher than Dye's after the contest was over too. Dye knew Jones could handle RB1 duties, and he sure did. Jones ran wild for 120 rush yards on 21 carries. He also caught four passes for 57 yards. He had two rushing touchdowns. He was simply unstoppable.

Jones is now at 6.2 yards per carry and 11.9 yards per catch. He now has six total touchdowns (five rushing) on the season, and is at 646 total yards of offense (455 rushing). If it wasn't already clear that nobody should be doubting the man who led the conference in rush touchdowns two seasons ago is a bad idea, it couldn't be more clear now

USC Football can absolutely win with Austin Jones as the RB1.

And the best part is that USC Football has other good backs besides Austin Jones who can give Jones a break in a change-of-pace role. That certainly worked on Saturday. RB3 Raleek Brown had three catches for 27 receiving yards against UCLA, and RB4 Darwin Barlow had three carries for 25 yards and a touchdown. The depth that the Trojans have at RB is truly absurd.

Look--when Barlow, who is the 'RB4' of the team is averaging 6.6 yards per rush attempt, SC is clearly doing something right. Dye knew the depth that USC had, and SC fans are surely thankful that he made sure Jones knew about it, and what he brings to the table. Dye keeps finding ways to build confidence in his teammates, even when he's not on the field right now.