USC played its home opener against San Jose State (who they dumped Notre Dame for) five days ago. Since that contest kicked off, the Trojans have gone out of their way to make sure the conversation around the program is about nothing that happened on the field and everything that happened in the stands.
Because San Jose State is not a particularly good program these days, and we were nearly four-touchdown favorites entering Saturday, USC fans could have been forgiven for not selling out the Coliseum. However, the minuscule crowd that did show up to the Week 0 game was roasted on social media because of the smattering of fans and entire empty sections pictured in posts across social media.
USC tried to fight back, claiming the Notre Dame replacement game didn’t have low attendance because no one cared about the cupcake contest. Rather, people stayed away because of the heat, the school claimed. Once it became clear the argument wasn’t working on social media, it was probably time to stop trying to sway national opinion. Enter Lincoln Riley and his penchant for making the wrong decision.
"This is USC, right? People are gonna pay attention,” Riley said during a Tuesday press conference. “People are gonna have an opinion. It’s part of being a blue blood school. I don’t buy into the false narrative. I think that comes from a lot of people who don’t follow our program. Most of them have never stepped foot into The Coliseum. Reality is that during my years here, attendance has gone up every year."
Lincoln Riley responded to the reaction around USC’s Week 0 attendance:
— Ryan Kartje (@RyanKartje) September 2, 2026
“I think that comes from a lot of people who don’t follow our program, most of those who have never stepped foot in the Coliseum. The reality is during my years here attendance has gone up every single year” pic.twitter.com/vAZDwW4dKr
Notre Dame football rival USC has only itself to blame for attendance backlash
Ok, Lincoln, but average attendance over the course of the season and whether you have drawing power were not the focus of the discussion. The focus was the empty seats at Riley’s team’s season opener, and the talk about that rolls on.
Along the way, USC has even taken shots from another coach who has put his foot in his mouth dozens of times over the offseason. Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire addressed the issue, despite the Red Raiders being in a different conference and not scheduled to play the Trojans at any point in the future.
“Not to take any shots, because I have a lot of respect for USC and Lincoln Riley, but it’s really awesome to be playing in Lubbock, Texas, knowing we’re going to be playing in front of 60,000 (fans),” McGuire said during his own game week press conference.
No. 14 USC entered the 2026 season hoping this would be the year it finally goes to the College Football Playoff. The school even ran screaming away from Notre Dame and one of the most historic rivalries in sports because it wanted to pad its schedule with wins. And yet, Lincoln Riley and his team aren’t being recognized this week as a powerhouse that took care of business.
Riley’s squad is once again the object of ridicule all over social media. The more this kind of stuff is talked about, the fewer conversations about the Trojans’ actual fitness to go to the CFP will occur.
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