LOS ANGELES — The dial thermometer at the corner of the Coliseum crept toward its maximum reading of 100 degrees just two hours before the USC football team was set to take the field against San José State in its season opener.
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It was 94 degrees by kickoff, putting Saturday’s record-high temperature into a tie for the hottest USC game ever played inside the Coliseum. The 14th-ranked Trojans walked away with a 42-26 victory over the Spartans, but the post-game discourse about the attendance for the game quickly followed.
“This is USC. People are going to pay attention,” Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley said Tuesday. “People are going to have an opinion. It’s part of being at a blue-blood school. I don’t buy into the false narrative. I think that comes from a lot of people that don’t follow our program, and most of those who have never set foot in the Coliseum.”
Still photos of the NBC broadcast that showed scant crowds drew the ire of sports personality Dave Portnoy, who called the attendance an “absolute disgrace,” and Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire weighed in during a press conference on Monday.
Red Raiders Athletics announced that it had sold out of its primary ticket inventory on Aug. 21 for the season opener against Abilene Christian, and a reporter asked him if he had given any thought to how important and special a sellout crowd is.
“Not to take any shots – because I have a lot of respect for USC and Lincoln Riley – but, man, it’s really awesome to be playing in Lubbock, Texas, knowing we’re going to be playing in front of 60,000,” McGuire said.
“And it’s going to be warm. It’s going to be every bit as warm as it was Saturday. The great thing is, we got some really tough people in West Texas that love their football and they’re going to show up no matter what the weather’s like. There’s not going to be any excuse of why they’re not going to be there for us.”
On Tuesday, first-year Cal coach Tosh Lupoi also shared his thoughts.
“I don’t mean this by any disrespect to anybody, but to turn on the TV … to see that environment in Los Angeles, that’s disheartening to see,” Lupoi told reporters. “I can guarantee you that’s a completely different environment here.”
The official attendance for the San José State game was announced as 51,144 (capacity: 77,500). Many fans sought out shade in the concourse as the humidity climbed to 74% toward the tail end of a National Weather Service-issued heat advisory.
An LAFD spokesperson told Southern California News Group that it made 15 patient contacts, including one who was transported to a local hospital.
LAFD did not disclose how many of the medical emergencies were heat-related, but freshman receiver Ethan “Boobie” Feaster’s father, Lee, gave his testimony of the weather on social media.
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“I see people talking,” Feaster wrote in a post on X. “We are from The Boot and we live in TX, but Saturday was a different type of heat in LA … My wife has blisters. She passed out along with 15-20 other people in the medical tent.”
USC has a shortened week of preparation and hosts Fresno State on Friday at 6 p.m. in a pre-Labor Day Weekend matchup. It will be a step up in competition from San José State, but the attention will be on the stands as much as it is between the white lines.
The Trojans averaged 67,782 fans per home game in 2025, which was slightly down from the average of 71,571 in 2024. Otherwise, attendance has increased since Riley’s first season as head coach in 2022. It jumped to 64,484 that season and increased to 66,071 in 2023.
Capturing the attention of fans in the region can be a challenge – as USC men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman already knows.
The Trojans – who went 7-0 at the Coliseum last season – will be competing for Southern California sports fans who also have the option of heading to the Dodgers’ 7:10 game against the Washington Nationals. And even if they choose to wear Cardinal and Gold, there is still Dodger Stadium traffic combined with Labor Day weekend freeway congestion to battle.
FOX will broadcast the game nationally and, although temperatures are expected to be much lower on Friday, those other factors might lead fans to choose their couch and television over a stadium seat.
If a lack of competition in the nonconference schedule is to blame, USC’s ability to draw a crowd when teams like Oregon, Washington and Ohio State come to Los Angeles could be a true barometer.
San José State was, after all, added to the schedule in place of what would have been a Notre Dame game.
“The reality is – during my years here, the attendance has gone up every single year, as has our play in the Coliseum,” Riley said, “including running the table last year in front of a lot of epic atmospheres. And I expect that to happen again this year.”
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