Paul Finebaum blasts USC’s statement regarding low attendance at season opener
By Ethan Stone
Published:
USC’s crowd for its season-opener against San Jose State was so pathetic that the program had to release a statement regarding its “high expectations” for attendance moving forward.
Here’s the statement in full:
“We understand the factors that impacted Saturday’s attendance,” USC told Jordan Mendoza of USA Today. “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.”
Shortly after, Paul Finebaum appeared on First Take and put the Trojans on blast for the statement:
“First of all, there is no way a human being at Southern Cal put out that pile of garbage,” Finebaum said. “That had to be AI generated because no sane person at the University of Southern California would say that. And by the way, that 51,000 looked like about 25,000, I’ve been around sports a long time, when you have nobody at the game you tend to exaggerate whatever you have. That is a downright disgrace.”
The “factors” that played into USC’s shoddy attendance, at least the ones that have been mentioned online by some USC fans, includ the heat and an outmatched opponent in late August. That looks past the fact that USC and UCLA post poor attendance in early-season games each and every year and have for quite some time.
Finebaum also argued that USC used to be the “gold standard” for college football, and that magic has since washed away. He acknowledged the heat aspect — LA has been experiencing feels like temperatures over 100 this week — but was still disappointed with the Trojans.
“It’s still a bad look for Lincoln Riley,” Finebaum said.
As a lot of readers may have noted already, it’s plenty hot in the southeast and desert states this time of year, too. All involved will see better attendance than USC in Week 0.
The No. 14 Trojans will be back in action on Friday night against Fresno State.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
