00:00But if you're looking at USC, the current topic for USC is not about football.
00:07It's about the fans.
00:09This game last weekend against USC has everyone's attention.
00:14Everyone is ripping USC.
00:16Everyone's ripping Los Angeles.
00:18Now, if you lived in LA, you were running to the defense of USC.
00:21If you hate USC and you hate California culture, you're ripping California for being fair
00:27weather fans, and you don't care about your team, and thus you're not going to a game
00:31against San Jose State.
00:32Now, let me remind you before we read the statement from USC, let me remind you as to what that
00:37game was.
00:40USC was favored by 38 and a half points, okay?
00:4538 and a half points they were favored by San Jose State, a program that finished woefully
00:50at the end of last year.
00:52They went one and six down the stretch.
00:55USC is a top 10 program, top 20 program, depending on how you feel about Lincoln Riley and Jordan
01:02Maeva in this offense.
01:04But they're playing a football game in August.
01:07I know everyone is saying, hey, it's hot in the South and people show up all the time.
01:14But playing a football game in August is strange.
01:17It just is, okay?
01:18Playing a game in August is weird.
01:20You just don't think about college football in the month of August.
01:24You think about it in September.
01:26Football is a fall sport.
01:28Plus, you have a lot of competition.
01:31When it's 105 degrees in Los Angeles, you want to go to the beach.
01:35You don't want to go to a game.
01:37You want to go to the beach.
01:38So, the sun, if you put UNLV, if you put the Raiders, you put anybody outside in 109 degree
01:49temperatures, 105 degree temperatures in the blazing sun, you're not going to have a good
01:55time.
01:56You're going to get overheated.
01:58You're going to have heat stroke.
01:59And that is what everyone in LA was having to deal with.
02:03So, I am an East Coast guy who would be inclined to rip the fair weather nature of USC, but
02:13I
02:13think they're getting a really bum rap here from people that are just taking shots at USC
02:19because I don't think many programs would have fans in the stands given the weather.
02:24It got so bad yesterday that USC had to issue a statement to USA Today Sports saying, quote,
02:31we understand the factors that impacted Saturday's attendance.
02:34We have high expectations and a premier home schedule this season, and we know the competitive
02:40advantage an electric coliseum atmosphere can provide our program.
02:44We thank our fans who showed up Saturday.
02:47We look forward to seeing increased attendance the rest of the season.
02:50There were several factors at play as to why USC didn't have a packed stadium, as USA Today
02:56wrote.
02:57It was with the obvious one being the weather.
02:59The game took place in what has been a brutal stretch of temperature in Southern California,
03:04which is true, and a much higher than usual humidity level, worsening the effects outside.
03:10The USA National Weather Service issued an extreme heat advisory in Los Angeles for the region
03:15on that day.
03:16It didn't help.
03:17The game also kicked off on noon local time with the temperature at 94 degrees with a real
03:23field temperature of 104, according to AccuWeather.
03:26When the game started, you had to mix that in with limited shade inside the stadium, making
03:32it for a rough day at the game for the fans.
03:35And I know everyone takes a look at that picture and they're like, it's football.
03:39Suck it up.
03:39I'm telling you, as somebody who has felt the sun and was there last week on the West Coast
03:46and felt 109 degree temperatures in Vegas, there's no humidity in Vegas because it's
03:51the desert.
03:52The further west you go, you hit the Pacific Ocean and you have the added humidity on top
03:58of the temperature and the heat in the sun.
04:01So I don't knock USC fans the way that so many people are.
04:05This like, hey, here we go.
04:08Deal with it.
