With Travis Dye out, USC's Austin Jones and Raleek Brown will get a chance to shine

Dye had rushed for 884 yards and 9 touchdowns before suffering a season-ending knee injury

Other than Heisman Trophy candidate Caleb Williams, fifth-year running back Travis Dye has quietly been the most important player in USC's offense this season.

Dye went down with a season-ending knee injury in Friday night’s blowout victory over Colorado, a devastating reality for USC. He has been the heart of the offense on the field and a composed leader off of it. His fifth college football season, and first at USC, will finish with 1,086 scrimmage yards and nine touchdowns.

In total, Dye will finish his excellent college career with 38 touchdowns and 5,066 scrimmage yards, which is good for 10th all-time in the Pac-12.

As far as Dye’s physical talent goes, he’s obviously an exceptional player. He runs really hard and makes big plays when he needs to, and he’s gotten the ball into the end zone to finish Trojan drives all season long.

When the passing game has been unable to get rolling, when the receivers have been hurt, and when the offense has just needed a little spark, Dye has been there to put the team on his back.

At 6.1 yards per carry and zero fumbles on 166 touches, he was the most consistent and dependable part of USC’s team - other than Williams.

The part that really hurts is seeing such a great person lose the opportunity to finish his season with a USC team that’s contending for a College Football Playoff spot. Dye has been such a critical part of building the winning culture and attitude of this team. He always recognized the spaces for improvement, even after quality wins, and pushed his teammates not to become complacent.

He was “tremendously important,” Lincoln Riley said. “Important for the culture, but really important to the competitive nature, the way we practice, the energy, the competitiveness, the physicality and the toughness. He was one of the key cogs in this team making some real progress here.”

“I think we all know that was something that had to happen here, and he was a central figure in that. His presence on the field, his presence on the practice field, all of that, it got everybody going. He is an infectious leader and an infectious personality.”

This was obviously an emotional loss for the team and for Williams, who has shared the backfield with him for the past 10 games.

“I just told him I love him. I looked him in the eye and I told him I love him and we’re going to get this win. I was just there for him,” Williams said of the interaction he had with Dye as the running back was carted off the field Friday.

“Like Coach said, he’s been a key part of everything for us as a team, for me and for me as a QB. I have been able to hand the ball off to him, and he is able to do some special things in pass pro and even the scramble drill. He’s a special player and a special human. We’re going to miss him on the field, but he’s still going to be there, and he’ll have a different role for this team.”

Dye will be missed from a football standpoint, but he'll still be around the team and his leadership will be critical down the stretch for a relatively young USC team.

Expect Austin Jones to pick up most of the workload at running back - and Raleek Brown’s role to increase as well. Those two, as well as Darwin Barlow, who really hasn’t seen the field this year, each scored a touchdown against Colorado after Dye left the game. 

“What a great guy we have to turn to in Austin," said Riley. "I was really excited to see the way Raleek and Darwin both played (vs. Colorado). They both made some really fantastic runs and the depth of that room will be tested, and we have three guys in there that’ll be ready to go.”

USC has a talented enough roster to overcome the loss of Dye, but that doesn’t make it any easier. 

“That’s tough. It shook us all a little bit. He’s such an emotional leader, and a senior. That sucks. There’s really no other way to put it. It’s one of the tough parts of this game. This game, it’s given Travis a lot. He’s put a lot into it and he’s had an awesome career. He’s had an awesome run here for us this year, and there’s no way we would be sitting here where we’re at as a football team without him,” Riley said.

“His role will probably be a little bit different going forward here for this team, but he’ll still be a huge leader and a huge part of it. He’s got a lot of great ball and a lot of other great things ahead of him right now … He’s gonna be playing on an NFL team next year, and probably playing really well. It breaks your heart, it does. But again, it’s part of the game and that’s why you have to appreciate every opportunity that you get to coach it.”