It’s sad to say, but this is the penultimate edition of this column. After 33 editions across five semesters, my time of hot takes and mostly correct opinions is almost over.

I know current sports editor Henry Mode can’t wait to see the day when he will no longer have someone to check him on the bold-faced lies and propaganda he attempts to spread. But luckily for the Daily Trojan’s readership, he is being transferred to London for the year, where he’ll be more focused on tea and crumpets than misrepresenting my arguments in every one of his columns.

Being at the paper for eight semesters — yeah, yeah, I know I’m old — I’ve covered my fair share of sports games. I’ve seen just about every USC sport during my time here, either as a reporter or as a fan. As a school, we’ve had varying levels of success across all of these sports, but one thing has been clear to me, regardless: Students just don’t care that much about any of USC’s sports.

This obviously isn’t every single student; there’s always a decent crowd at Rock & Reilly’s for every away football or basketball game that the bar will air. But most students just couldn’t care less about sports on campus.

Football is the prime example of this. In the fall, many other college campuses see their respective quads filled with tailgates, colorful jerseys and people getting ready to see their team get a win. 

There’s a reason football is one of the biggest moneymakers for college athletic programs: It’s always the talk of the town during the fall semester. But at USC, it’s a little different. 

I’ve definitely seen the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum packed, but more often than not, the student section is largely gone by halftime, regardless of the score. People will have a few drinks, get their pics in the stands and then rush home the second the Trojan defense inevitably lets up a singular touchdown.

The football team was bad my first year here, so I understood it. During my second year, though, we were finally good with the arrival of soon-to-be-Heisman-winning quarterback Caleb Williams. The Coliseum finally kind of filled up for games by the end of the year, and people would actually stay a while. But it was short-lived, as my junior year was more of the same — get to the game, leave at halftime, find out what happened at the game later.

This is largely different from what I’ve experienced and heard about at other schools in the country. Of course, it’s hard to compare to SEC country, where college football will always have a different level of significance in everyday life, but even just looking at other Big Ten teams, the difference is clear. By simply visiting my friends at the University of Maryland, I saw that it’s night and day between USC and traditional Big Ten schools.

People go to the games, and even though they sometimes leave at halftime, they immediately go to the bar to watch the end of the game and root for their team until the very end. And College Park is by no means even close to the best in the Big Ten for their fan culture — look at Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State or Purdue — but even at their current state, it’s leagues above USC.

Looking at the other sports, the attendance is even more depressing. It wasn’t until women’s basketball was a top-five team in the entire country that some students showed up to support, but even then, the stands were sparse with actual students. Community members made up most of the Galen Center crowds.

Don’t even get me started on the other sports where we don’t have national prominence. We’ve won the national championship in beach volleyball for the past four years. FOUR. Shout-out to staff photographer Jake Berg. But it isn’t widely talked about on ESPN every day, so it doesn’t get any love from the student body.

Countless other sports we’ve had success in — men’s and women’s water polo, men’s volleyball, soccer and lacrosse, to name a few — rarely get anyone showing up to their games. Not to say that attendance is packed for these sports at other schools, but it seems unless they’re die-hard USC fans, these games are mostly filled with family and friends, which sucks.

A lot of the student body has such a variety of interests that don’t involve sports — which, of course, is a great thing. I just wish people would show a little more school pride and support for their fellow students.

Stefano Fendrich is a senior writing about his opinions on some of sports’ biggest debates in his column, “The Great Debate,” which runs every other Friday. He is also the editor in chief at the Daily Trojan.