In the long tradition of great programs measured as much by their crowds as their scores, USC's Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum offered a complicated picture on a Friday night in early September — a convincing victory over Fresno State shadowed by rows of empty seats at kickoff, raising quiet but persistent questions about whether a storied program's identity still commands the devotion it once did. The city itself offered a partial defense: Los Angeles traffic is its own kind of force of nature, and by the second quarter the stadium had filled considerably, suggesting the wound may be more logi
USC Trojans draw improved crowd for Fresno State despite Friday night timing
By the second quarter, the stadium had filled in noticeably.
Mark
So USC won the game but still had empty seats at kickoff. That seems like a real problem for a top-15 program, doesn't it?
Mimi
It does look bad in the photos, but the context matters. By the second quarter the stadium had filled in substantially. A lot of that is just Los Angeles—traffic is genuinely brutal on a Friday night before a holiday weekend.
Luke
But here's what I want to know: how many people actually showed up by the end, and how does that compare to what USC typically draws? The article doesn't give us a total attendance figure.
Mimi
That's fair. We know it improved, but you're right that we don't have the actual numbers to compare against historical averages or what other ranked programs draw.
Mark
Is this a one-week story or something bigger? The Week 0 game also had sparse crowds at kickoff.
Mimi
That's the pattern that's concerning people. Two weeks in a row of thin early crowds suggests something beyond just traffic and timing.
Luke
Though we should note: one was a non-conference game against San Jose State, and this was Fresno State on a Friday night. Neither is a marquee matchup. We won't really know if there's a problem until they play Oregon on the 26th.
Mark
So the Oregon game is the real test.
Mimi
Exactly. If they draw well for that, the early-season sparse crowds might just be a quirk. If Oregon also looks half-empty, then USC has a real attendance crisis.
Luke
And even then, we'd need to know: is it specific to USC, or is this happening across college football? One program's attendance problem might just be the new normal.
Mark
Fair point. We're watching a story that hasn't fully revealed itself yet.
The Pulse
- For the second straight home game, USC's Coliseum looked embarrassingly sparse at kickoff, drawing fresh waves of social media mockery for a program that considers itself college football royalty.
- The timing compounded the optics — a Friday night before a holiday weekend in one of the world's most traffic-choked cities, where a short drive can consume an entire evening.
- By the second quarter, the stadium had filled noticeably, offering USC's defenders a practical explanation: this is Los Angeles, where arriving late is less apathy than geography.
- The real test looms on September 26, when Oregon comes to town — a ranked matchup that will reveal whether the sparse crowds are a scheduling quirk or a symptom of something harder to fix.
In the long tradition of great programs measured as much by their crowds as their scores, USC's Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum offered a complicated picture on a Friday night in early September — a convincing victory over Fresno State shadowed by rows of empty seats at kickoff, raising quiet but persistent questions about whether a storied program's identity still commands the devotion it once did. The city itself offered a partial defense: Los Angeles traffic is its own kind of force of nature, and by the second quarter the stadium had filled considerably, suggesting the wound may be more logistical than existential. Still, for a program ranked among the nation's elite, the image of empty red seats lingers as an invitation to deeper reflection about loyalty, place, and what it means to belong to a city as vast and distracted as Los Angeles.
USC arrived at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Friday night carrying the sting of a week's worth of online ridicule. Their season opener against San Jose State had drawn embarrassingly thin crowds at kickoff, a sight that spread quickly across social media and raised uncomfortable questions about a program ranked No. 14 nationally. With Fresno State visiting for a Friday night game, the football world was watching.
The Trojans won convincingly, but the early images told a familiar story — rows of empty red seats at kickoff, not quite as stark as the week before, but still short of what USC's pedigree demands. A Friday night before a holiday weekend in Los Angeles, a city where traffic can turn any commute into an ordeal, worked against them from the start.
As the game progressed, something shifted. By the second quarter the Coliseum had filled in considerably, and the explanation came into focus: Los Angeles traffic and the city's culture of fashionable lateness meant many fans simply hadn't arrived yet when the opening whistle blew. What looked like indifference was, in many cases, just the reality of crossing the city on a Friday evening.
The deeper question now waits until September 26, when Oregon visits for a matchup between ranked programs. That game will clarify whether the sparse kickoffs are an early-season quirk of light scheduling — or evidence of an attendance problem that even marquee opponents cannot cure.
USC's football program arrived at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Friday night carrying the weight of a week's worth of social media ridicule. The previous Saturday, when the Trojans had defeated San Jose State 42-26 in their season opener, the stands had looked embarrassingly thin at kickoff—a sight that drew widespread mockery online and raised uncomfortable questions about a blue-blood program ranked No. 14 nationally. Now, with Fresno State visiting for a Friday night matchup, the football world was watching to see whether USC could field a crowd that actually looked like it belonged to a major college program.
The Trojans won the game convincingly enough, but the early attendance numbers told a familiar story. Photographs from kickoff showed rows of empty red seats, a visual that, while not quite as stark as the previous week's disaster, still fell short of what you'd expect from a team with USC's pedigree and current ranking. The timing worked against them—a Friday night before a holiday weekend in Los Angeles, a city notorious for traffic that can turn a thirty-minute drive into a two-hour ordeal. Even so, the sparse opening kickoff crowd felt like a continuation of a troubling pattern.
But something shifted as the game progressed. By the time the second quarter arrived, the Coliseum had filled in noticeably. The explanation was partly practical—Los Angeles traffic and the city's particular culture of fashionable lateness meant that plenty of fans simply hadn't arrived yet when the game began. What might have looked like apathy at kickoff was, in many cases, just the reality of getting across Los Angeles on a Friday evening. The stadium's appearance improved considerably once people actually made it through the doors, suggesting the attendance problem was more complicated than simple lack of interest.
The question now shifts to what happens when USC faces a genuine marquee opponent. The Trojans' next home game will come on September 26 against the Oregon Ducks, a matchup between ranked programs that should carry the kind of draw befitting a major college football rivalry. That game will provide a clearer picture of whether the sparse crowds at the Coliseum are a temporary quirk of early-season, non-conference scheduling, or whether USC has a deeper attendance problem that even big games can't solve.
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