USC football crowd got hate. Fans say don’t believe the narrative

LOS ANGELES — This season marked the first year Andrew Gonzales had Southern California football season tickets. He planned to bring his dad, Ronnie, with him to the season opener on Aug. 29, but he told his son no.

So Gonzales’ wife went instead – and she ended up outside in the tunnels, needing bags of ice to stay cool.

“She was one of thousands,” he told USA TODAY Sports.

Gonzalez was part of the relatively small crowd that made it out to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Week 0 game between USC and San Jose State, only to deal with brutal heat that greatly contributed to why the historic stadium looked empty. The announced attendance for the game was 51,144, but the eye test made it clear it wasn’t anywhere close to that figure.

Regardless, it instantly became the story of college football, with people across the country dunking on USC for not drawing in a packed stadium when other blue bloods do it on an every game basis.

So it raised a question: what’s going on at USC?

To those that have been there for decades, it’s not that deep, as many fans believe it’s a one-off…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/