USC football doesn’t speak for the West Coast. The Trojans haven’t mattered in a while. And Stanford has never been a consistent draw. What I’m saying is that those two programs are not the prism through which college football passion in the West should be viewed.
That said, man, their crowds on Saturday looked pathetic.
51,144 announced at the Los Angeles Coliseum?
They sure about that?
When Lincoln Riley locked arms with a couple of his players and walked onto the field, I wondered if he’d got the game time wrong. I know. Noon kickoff. Warm day. San Jose State wasn’t a sexy opponent. SoCal decided to stay home and wash its hair. But that broadcast on NBC was a three-hour indictment.
Not of USC’s defense.
Of us.
Stanford’s home crowd wasn’t much better. 23,222 was the announced crowd for its victory over Hawaii. That figure was generous, too. It was a sobering look. The whole thing left me thinking about the significance of the Boise State-Oregon football game next Saturday in Eugene.