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Lincoln Riley Put a James Franklin Spin on USC Playing in Front of an Empty Coliseum
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USC played in Week 0, beating San Jose State 42-26 in front of a SPARSE home crowd:
Looks like a Temple game at Lincoln Financial Field. Apparently it was really hot out in LA last weekend, and San Jose State isn’t some sexy opponent. There wasn’t a lot of hype for the game. But Southern Cal is ranked inside the top 15 and this is the same program that used to roll out Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart and LenDale White and Dwayne Jarrett and all of these dudes. The Coliseum was ROCKING. Now they’re playing in front of 25 people as a “Big 10” school.
Head coach Lincoln Riley said this about the criticism, via ESPN:
“This is USC — people are going to have an opinion,” Riley said. “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 have never stepped foot in the Coliseum.”
The 14th-ranked Trojans opened their highly anticipated fifth season under Riley with only 51,144 fans — which appeared to be a generous estimate — in reported attendance Saturday against San Jose State. The game kicked off at noon local time, and the temperature reached 96 degrees at one point, with a heat index over 100 degrees. USC won 42-26.
“We understand the factors that impacted Saturday’s attendance,” the school said Monday in a statement. “We have high expectations and a premier home schedule this season, and we 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.”
False narrative? What is false about the narrative? The live television broadcast showed a half-empty stadium! It’s not a “narrative” at all; it is factual. It’s verified by using our own eyeballs. The Coliseum was empty. Maybe people will show up for USC vs. Oregon, Washington, and Ohio State in September and October, when the opponent is bigger and the weather is cooler. But the bottom line is that if this was Penn State or Meeeechigan or the SEC, the building would be full on day 1. Those students wouldn’t be worried about the weather. At best, USC is gonna get the “front runner” label if the crowd only shows up for the good games. Bama fans would be out there in full force for a 70-point, Week 1 beatdown of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in 97-degree heat. They’d be wearing their pastel-colored shorts and polo shirts with their Ray-Bans and Croakies.
Anyway, isn’t it funny how college football coaches just say shit? They say things that make no sense at all and are not even remotely rooted in reality. Kirby Smart once convinced the Georgia team that beat TCU 65-7 that they were being “disrespected” going into the season. Not a single person was disrespecting the Bulldogs that year. Their preseason win total was 10.5!
Who did Kirby Smart and Lincoln Riley learn from? James Franklin?
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com