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All eyes were on USC to see if the Trojans could bounce back from nightmare tiny crowd at season opener

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Reigle, M. (2026, September 5). All eyes were on USC to see if the Trojans could bounce back from nightmare tiny crowd at season opener. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/usc-trojans-bounce-back-nightmare-tiny-crowd-season-opener

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Fox News · collected 2026-09-05 · by Matt Reigle

Quick Summary

The USC Trojans hosted Fresno State at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in their second game of the season, following criticism for a low attendance at their previous opener. Despite expectations that traffic and a holiday weekend might deter fans, the crowd was initially sparse but eventually filled out by the second quarter. The Trojans beat Fresno State 42-26, and their next big test is hosting Oregon on September 26. The game drew an unspecified number of attendees, with some speculation that being late to events is fashionable in Los Angeles contributing to the initial slow turnout.
Written by AI on 2026-09-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The USC Trojans' season opener against San Jose State drew attention for its small crowd at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The stadium had an announced attendance of 53,014, which is below the 77,500-seat capacity and several thousand fewer than their next game against Fresno State. While it's not entirely unexpected given that it was a Friday before a holiday weekend in Los Angeles, which is notorious for traffic, fans continued to filter into the stadium throughout the first two quarters, filling out the sparse sections at kickoff. The crowd did improve by nightfall, but this lack of attendance remains an issue for the program, particularly for Lincoln Riley, who has yet to reverse the trend despite a promising start to the season with a 42-26 win over San Jose State.

Written for “USC Football Attendance Issues” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 USC Football Attendance Issues
Sports · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 25% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
USC’s Coliseum crowd looked better — but the empty seats aren’t gone yet Same event
New York Post
Hedges 0 of 11 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
12
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
25%
3 of 12 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
69/100
Fox News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Fox News · 6063 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Matt Reigle
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 65 articles by Matt Reigle →

Topics

Big Ten L.A. San Jose State Trojans the USC

Subjects

Trojans ORG · 4× Big Ten ORG · 2× L.A. GPE · 2× Los Angeles GPE · 1× San Jose State GPE · 1× USC ORG · 1× the Fresno State Bulldogs ORG · 1× the Oregon Ducks ORG · 1× the USC ORG · 1×

Narrative

That's why, by the time the second quarter had rolled around, the stadium had filled out pretty well, considering it was a Week 1 non-conference tilt.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-05
🔮 So all eyes were on L.A. to see whether the Trojans could draw a crowd more befitting of a blue-blood Big Ten program currently ranked No. 14 in the nation.
2026-09-05 · Fox News
All eyes were on USC to see if the Trojans could bounce back from nightmare tiny crowd at season opener · mixed framing

Claims (12 extracted, 3 hedged)

It’s not like they lost or anything; they beat San Jose State, 42-26. asserted
they → ’ → State
It was the turnout at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that was getting a lot of attention. asserted
that → get → attention
And by that, I mean the measly crowd at kickoff was getting roasted all over social media. asserted
crowd → mean → media
So all eyes were on L.A. to see whether the Trojans could draw a crowd more befitting of a blue-blood Big Ten program currently ranked No. 14 in the nation. uncertain
Trojans → see → nation
The Trojans hosted the Fresno State Bulldogs on Friday night, a Pac-12 team that isn't one to overlook. asserted
that → host → team
And sure, no one thought this was going to bring in a sellout crowd the way a big rivalry game would... but you'd think they could draw a little better than this: Not as "ouch" as Week 0, but it's still not pretty. uncertain
it → think → Week
Of course, as that post noted, it is a Friday before a holiday weekend in the traffic hellscape that is Los Angeles... asserted
that → note → hellscape
but this is also USC football, and they look like they could have a solid year. But nope. uncertain
they → look → year
But hold the phone ... this is L.A.: Not only is traffic a nightmare, but it’s also the kind of place where it’s cool to be fashionably late. asserted
it → hold → place
You know who shows up for kickoff and is on time for stuff? asserted
who → know → stuff
That's why, by the time the second quarter had rolled around, the stadium had filled out pretty well, considering it was a Week 1 non-conference tilt. asserted
it → roll → time
The Trojans' first home game against a Big Ten opponent will be on Sept. 26 when they host the Oregon Ducks. asserted
they → host → Ducks
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