After USC backed out of the rivalry series with Notre Dame, it found one of the worst programs in college football to open its season against. It seems the school forgot to get the word out, given how empty the Coliseum was on Saturday afternoon.
After pictures of sporadic groups of fans and entirely empty sections of the stadium started making the rounds on social media and USC started taking … heat for having such an embarrassing crowd, several fans tried to explain that it was hot out and that’s why so few people showed up. It now appears that not even the athletic department itself is taking “it was sunny out” as a reason not to go to a game.
On Sunday evening, the program released a short statement addressing the poor attendance, and the most interesting part is that the school didn’t come close to making excuses for so few people coming to the season opener.
According to USA Today reporter Jordan Mendoza, the Trojans wrote: “We understand the factors that impacted Saturday’s attendance. We have high expectations and a premier home schedule this season, and we know the competitive advantage an electric Coliseum can provide our program. We thank our fans who showed up Saturday and look forward to increased attendance the rest of the season.”
USC calls home schedule premier after removing Notre Dame football from slate
Some immediate reactions come to mind when reading the press release. The first is that, especially with Notre Dame off the schedule, calling the home schedule “premier” is a stretch. Sure, No. 2 Oregon, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 17 Washington coming to LA means that there are three tough games on USC’s home slate. Pairing those three games with San Jose State, Fresno State, Louisiana and Maryland doesn’t scream “premier schedule.”
The other thing that stood out in the statement is that while the Trojans might have “understood” why fans weren’t there, the program didn’t seem very happy about the excuses used. Keep in mind that another Big Ten program in Nebraska will open the season against lowly Ohio next Saturday when the temperature will be a very humid 94 degrees at game time.
Memorial Stadium in Lincoln won’t have many problems getting 70,000+ butts in the seats.
There’s also the embarrassment of having to issue a release at all. No other program that played on Saturday had to expressly admit that attendance was so bad, they essentially had to bed their fans to come to the next game.
USC seems to keep stepping in it when it comes to unforced errors since Lincoln Riley hit town. Leaving the Notre Dame series was a big one that continues to send out shockwaves, including the Trojans’ Week 0 game.
Add us as a preferred source on Google