I’m sure you can guess what I’m writing about today.

Surprise, surprise, you’re right: It’s No. 14 USC football’s attendance issue. Or, rather, lack of an issue. 

While Head Coach Lincoln Riley has been an outspoken defender of the program — as he’s supposed to be — the college football world is outraged by USC and its fans’ unwillingness to attend a game.

But once again, we play the blame game. So, who’s at fault?

For the first time in this young series, it is not USC. In fact, it could not be further from the Trojans’ problem. I blame college football fans for being so ignorant in an attempt to spin the worst storyline of the week into a story.

It’s not like there weren’t any newsworthy games in Week 0. 

TCU and North Carolina played the first college football game of the year. The head coach of North Carolina, Bill Belichick, is perhaps one of the most storied and despised coaches of all time after his six-ring dynasty with the New England Patriots. Following a few years off, Belichick joined North Carolina as its head coach in December 2024.

After an abysmal first season with the Tar Heels, Belichick found his way back into the spotlight — for many reasons — but mainly because North Carolina was taking on the Horned Frogs in Dublin, Ireland, to start the season.

The low-scoring affair ended with a Tar Heels victory in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. That’s right, the game has a name. And it was played in a country separated from the United States by the Atlantic Ocean. Yet somehow, the focus is still on the empty seats at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Slow news day, huh?

While I’m not denying the emptiness of the stadium, there were plenty of other college football news stories that day, both at USC and in the seven other games played.

How about AP Player of the Week and Trojan redshirt senior quarterback Jayden Maiava going 25-for-29 and throwing for over 275 yards? How about the madness of the University of Hawai’i and Stanford game, which, might I add, had well under half the number of fans as the number that the Coliseum held on Saturday — I mean, what else is there to even do in Palo Alto? Or what about Virginia completely blowing NC State out of the water in a dominant performance?

But no, instead the focus is on a lack of attendance at a USC Week 0 football game against San Jose State University, of all schools. That’s right, a team that has played in just seven Bowl games in the last 35 years. 

Focusing back in on the Trojans, let’s get a few things straight: Fans of Los Angeles sports teams are late people. Very late people. Whether it’s because of tailgating, traffic or whatever reason, they do not show up to games on time. That is a fact.

Everyone talks about that phenomenon with the Los Angeles Dodgers and how their fans show up well after the first pitch. Suddenly, though, that point is not brought up with USC despite, the Coliseum being about seven miles away from Dodger Stadium.

Now, let’s talk up the heat. Yeah, it was rough out there. 96 degrees, with humidity and a heat advisory. Texas Tech’s Head Coach Joey McGuire claimed he could fill up his school’s stadium even with the Texas heat, and I’m sure he could.

But riddle me this one, Coach. What’s worse: Texas Tech’s new logo or the fact that the Red Raiders forgot how to score against Oregon in the College Football Playoff? I know if I were at that game, I would have left early.

Enough of that; let’s talk about USC’s schedule: Three top-20 ranked opponents at home, including the top two teams in the country.

If you’re wondering whether USC will sell out those games, here’s the answer: It will. Point blank, and the period.

Before any ranked matchups, the Trojans have Fresno State University next on the schedule. And because of this recent massive outburst, here’s my prediction: The Coliseum will be rocking on Friday. And I mean rocking. I have no doubt about that.

When you anger an entire fanbase like USC’s, you know the response will come in full force, even if it’s on a Friday night. 

But in the future, how can USC avoid this attendance problem? Maybe the price of admission could be lower. Maybe playing a Week 0 game isn’t the best idea to stay out of the spotlight.

Or maybe we play a Power Four school as we were promised. Yeah, USC, I didn’t say you were safe from everything.

To make a long story short… Too late! 

College football fans need to find other things to talk about next time instead of dogging on the only ranked team on the slate that week. That’s not a threat; that’s a fact.

Dillon Zamperin is a sophomore writing about USC sports and the bigger picture of it all in his column, “Inside the Lines.” He is also a sports editor at the Daily Trojan.