USC Football receives devastating news regarding Travis Dye's injury

USC Football RB1 Travis Dye is expected to miss the rest of the season, according to Trojans Head Coach Lincoln Riley. Dye went down in the second quarter, to what looked like a serious knee injury. He was carted off the field, and while he did come back with a cast on his leg, he is to likely miss the rest of the year.

Luckily for Dye, Riley made it clear that this injury shouldn't affect his long-term football career, which is important news for Dye. He certainly rasied his draft stock this season--entering this game with 858 rushing yards on a 6.3 yard-per carry average. He's put some NASTY pass-blocks on tape all season this year, too, and constantly proves that he does the little things the right way.

He also continued to be a factor in the passing game, showing up to the field on Friday with 21 catches for 202 receiving yards. To put up these numbers with the amount of other weapons that Riley's offense has to use is massive. On the bright side for SC, though, they still have those other weapons. Some of them, of course, are in the backfield too.

For instance, RB2 Austin Jones actually came into this game averaging more yards per carry than Dye (6.4). He and RB3 Raleek Brown came into the game averaging more yards per reception than Dye's 9.6. Jones was at 11.9 and Brown was at 12.6. The team is certainly worse off without Dye, but can still win with the backfield they have.

USC Football's next running back after Travis Dye--Jones--led the PAC-12 in rushing touchdowns in 2020.

To prove that USC Football has what it takes to have a strong running game without Travis Dye, the Trojans ran all over CU after he left the game. Jones has 11 carries for 74 yards against Colorado. Brown had seven carries for 52 yards. Even RB4 Darwin Barlow had five carries for 41 yards, and he even found the end zone.

Both Jones and Brown also found the end zone, just via the receiving game and not in the ground game. A score is a score, though, and all three backs were efficient in the passing game. Jones had four catches for 39 receiving yards, and Brown had two catches for 38 receiving yards. Barlow had a couple of catches for 31 receiving yards.

Everybody had good games, and made the most of their opportunities for reps with Dye. Expect a lot of the same without Dye moving forward. All of these guys have had good college careers up to this point. Heck, when Barlow (who's the fourth running back on this team) has a career 5.2 yard per carry average, it goes to show that the Trojans have quite a lot of depth on this team.

QB Caleb Williams had a couple of rushing scores himself in the game. His threat with his legs is huge too. He came into the contest averaging four yards per carry for 287 rushing yards, proving that he can provide a lot in the ground game too. Losing Dye is gigantic, but SC's run game proved that they can survive this injury.