USC loses RB Travis Dye to season-ending injury, Lincoln Riley says

If the USC Trojans are going to stamp their ticket to the Pac-12 Championship Game and possibly the College Football Playoff, they’re going to have to do so without their star running back.

Travis Dye, who transferred to USC from Oregon this past offseason, was carted off the field after his left leg appeared to get twisted underneath him in the second quarter of the Trojans’ 55-17 win over Colorado on Friday night.

USC head coach Lincoln Riley said he does not expect Dye to play again this season.

Dye stayed down on the field after suffering the injury, and was eventually placed in an air cast and lifted onto the cart. Every player on USC’s sideline poured onto the Coliseum field to surround the cart transporting Dye off the field.

“There’s no way we would be sitting here as a football team if it wasn’t for him,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said.

Dye had rushed for 26 yards on nine carries before the injury occurred. He has totaled 884 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, while averaging 6.1 yards per carry this season.

USC will likely turn to Stanford transfer Austin Jones and freshman Raleek Brown to carry the backfield. Jones had 74 yards on 11 carries to lead the Trojans Friday night, while Brown had 52 yards on seven carries.

USC will take on No. 12 UCLA in a much-anticipated Pac-12 showdown on Nov. 19 at the Rose Bowl.