The USC Trojans won their season opener by 16 points during Week 0 against a Mountain West opponent, but the empty seats inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum quickly became the bigger story.
USC announced an attendance of 51,144 for Saturday’s 42-26 win over San Jose State, although television shots and photos from inside the stadium made the crowd appear much smaller. That quickly became a national talking point, drawing criticism from opposing fans, media personalities and even other college football coaches, like Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire.
“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.
Lincoln Riley has now heard enough.
The USC coach pushed back on the criticism, calling the discussion around the Trojans’ crowd a “false narrative” created largely by people who don’t closely follow the program.
Lincoln Riley Pushes Back on USC Attendance Criticism
On3’s Daniel Hager reported Riley addressed the attendance controversy while previewing Friday night’s game against Fresno State.
“This is USC, right? People are gonna pay attention. People are gonna have an opinion. It’s part of being a blue blood school. I don’t buy into the false narrative,” Riley said. “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. As has our play in The Coliseum, including running the table last year with a lot of epic atmospheres. I expect that to happen again this year.”
Riley’s response comes after USC itself acknowledged the disappointing turnout.
USA Today’s Jordan Mendoza reported USC said it understood the “factors that impacted Saturday’s attendance” while pointing to an extreme heat advisory and expressing confidence that crowds will improve throughout the season.
Temperatures were reportedly 94 degrees at kickoff with a real feel of 104, according to Hager.
Lincoln Riley’s USC Attendance Claim Comes With a Catch
Riley is correct that attendance improved significantly during the early part of his USC tenure.
The Trojans averaged 64,484 fans at home in 2022 and 66,071 in 2023, according to USC’s football attendance records. That number climbed again to 71,571 in 2024.
The trend did not continue last season.
USC averaged 67,783 fans across its 2025 home schedule, down nearly 3,800 per game from 2024, according to D1.ticker’s FBS attendance data. That represented a 5.29% year-over-year decline.
The Trojans still went undefeated at the Coliseum last season, finishing 7-0 at home during a 9-4 campaign.
Saturday’s announced crowd of 51,144 was also the smallest for a USC home game since Riley arrived in 2022.
That doesn’t mean Riley’s larger point about the Coliseum atmosphere is without merit. USC’s 2026 home schedule includes games against Ohio State, Oregon and Washington, all of which should generate significantly more demand than San Jose State.
The first chance to change the conversation comes much sooner.
USC hosts Fresno State on Friday night with a 6 p.m. local kickoff. Temperatures are expected to be much cooler than Saturday’s opener, with a projected high of 84 degrees in Los Angeles.
After spending much of the week defending the atmosphere inside the Coliseum, Riley and the Trojans will get their first chance to change the conversation.
USC’s Lincoln Riley Makes Telling Attendance Claim After Crowd Criticism