{"id":1038340,"date":"2026-09-02T06:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1038340\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T06:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T06:37:15","slug":"uscs-lincoln-riley-laments-false-narrative-over-attendance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1038340\/","title":{"rendered":"USC’s Lincoln Riley laments ‘false narrative’ over attendance"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to the brouhaha over USC\u2019s attendance<\/a> at its season opener, Lincoln Riley has entered the chat.<\/p>\n

And the Trojans coach didn\u2019t agree with much of what was being said elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, listen, this is USC, right?\u201d Riley said Tuesday in his first public comments since an announced crowd of only 51,144 showed up Saturday at the Coliseum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are going to pay attention, people are going to have an opinion, it\u2019s part of being a blueblood school. I don\u2019t buy into the false narrative \u2013 I think that comes from a lot of people that don\u2019t follow our program and most of those who have never set foot in the Coliseum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnOnly a smattering of fans turned out in the heat to watch USC defeat San Jose State on Saturday in the Trojans\u2019 home opener at the Coliseum. Ben Bolch\/California Post<\/p>\n

USC\u2019s crowd for its 42-26 victory over San Jose State<\/a> was its smallest since late in the 2018 season. It was undoubtedly impacted by playing an opponent from the Mountain West Conference at noon amid 94-degree conditions at kickoff.<\/p>\n

A day later, the school released a statement acknowledging all the factors that hindered the turnout, adding \u201cwe know the competitive advantage an electric Coliseum atmosphere can provide our program. We thank our fans who showed up Saturday and look forward to seeing increased attendance the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ASouthern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley reacts against the San Jose State Spartans in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

California coach Tosh Lupoi became the latest to weigh in on the situation Tuesday, suggesting that he expected better turnout for a team based in one of the nation\u2019s largest cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mean this by any disrespect to anybody,\u201d Lupoi told reporters, \u201cbut to turn on the TV to see that environment in Los Angeles, that\u2019s disheartening to see what little amount of individuals came out to support. I can guarantee that\u2019s a completely different environment here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lupoi\u2019s Golden Bears will host UCLA on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in the season opener for both teams.<\/p>\n

Riley pointed to the buzz generated by his success at the Coliseum, where the Trojans have gone 7-0 in 2022, 4-3 in 2023, 4-2 in 2024 and 7-0 in 2025 before opening this season with a victory over the Spartans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is,\u201d Riley said, \u201cduring my years here attendance has gone up every single year here, as has our play in the Coliseum, including running the table last year in front of a lot of epic atmospheres and I expect that to happen again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

USC\u2019s average home attendance actually declined from 71,571 in 2024 to 67,782 in 2025, but Riley\u2019s overall point stands \u2013 sustained success sells tickets, especially as the heat dissipates and the brand-name opponents roll into the Coliseum.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to the brouhaha over USC\u2019s attendance at its season opener, Lincoln Riley has entered the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1038341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[276,1428,16720,1318,60839,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,76601,68,9446],"class_list":["post-1038340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-california","tag-college-football","tag-colleges-and-universities","tag-football","tag-lincoln-riley","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-university-of-southern-california","tag-us","tag-usc-trojans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117200072438889086","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}