Travis Dye has emerged as key playmaker in USC's offense

This group was pretty much just Travis Dye on Saturday. He ran the ball 28 times for 149 yards and a touchdown and found the end zone once more on an impressive run that was called back for a penalty. Dye turned in a flawless performance and was sure to credit his offensive line for his stellar game.

Raleek Brown had two touches out of the backfield for just five yards and caught one pass for nine. Although he seems to be stepping into the second-string role, snaps are limited and almost all of the carries are going to Dye.

Austin Jones hardly saw the field at all and had zero touches on Saturday. He also had a very limited role in the two games before this one, which raises questions about the running back’s lack of playing time.

Jones was a big contributor earlier this season and turned in quality performances, including a 110-yard effort against Fresno State, in which he averaged over nine yards per carry.

Maybe it’s a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and the Trojans like what they’re getting out of Dye, so they’re entirely depending on him. Still, it’s odd that USC mixed up its touches in the backfield earlier on and are now almost exclusively using one back.

Wide Receivers: B-

Jordan Addison had his quietest game as a Trojan, catching just three balls on six targets for 37 yards. This is the second week in a row he has not scored a touchdown. 

Mario Williams led the Trojans in receiving with 82 yards and two touchdowns but did drop two big passes. No other Trojan reached even 40 receiving yards, with Brendan Rice and Lake McCree being the only other receivers with a reception.

“We need to catch the rock a little bit better. We need to focus on doing our own job instead of others,” Rice said. “We still have some things we need to fix, but we put forth the right energy, the right foot forward and from there we took it away.”

“Consistency in catching the ball, consistency in routes, consistency up front in the line. Once we solve all of those things, we’ll be a dominant force, the one we know we’re capable of [being].”

Offensive line: A-

The offensive line deserves credit for its contribution to a huge night in the run game. USC wasn’t able to figure out a way to get the ball into the hands of its playmakers on the outside, so it fully leaned into moving the ball on the ground, which couldn’t have been accomplished without great run blocking against a very strong defensive front seven.

With all of the talent at the skill positions, this group is considered the weakest link of USC’s offense. They don’t always give Williams the most time to let plays develop and get the ball out, but they are the centerpiece of one of the best offenses in the country and played an overall strong game on Saturday.

Health is going to be the most important thing with this group going forward. The starting O-line is made up of a lot of veteran guys, and there’s not that much depth behind them. Justin Dedich and Bobby Haskins are very important to this offense and they’ve been struggling with injuries for several weeks now, but they’ll need to be full strength for USC’s huge matchup with Utah on Saturday.