Lincoln Riley: 'I don't buy into the false narrative' surrounding the empty seats at USC's Week 0 win

Lincoln Riley isn't going to get in a back-and-forth about the number of people who were at his team's Week 0 win.

USC beat San Jose State on Saturday to open the 2026 season in front of more empty seats than fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It was over 90 degrees and sunny in LA and, well, you can imagine how tempting the beach and other water-related activities would be compared to sitting in the sun for a game where the Trojans were a five-touchdown favorite.

Pictures of those empty seats went viral, however, and even forced USC to issue a statement about the lack of attendance . Riley was asked about the topic during his Tuesday news conference and dismissed the debate.

"This is USC, right? People are going to pay attention," Riley said. "People are going to have an opinion. It's part of being a blue-blood school. I don't buy into the false narrative. I think that comes from a lot of people that don't follow our program. And most of those who have never set foot in the Coliseum. The reality is during my years here, attendance has gone up every single year. As has our play in the Coliseum, including running the table last year in front of a lot of epic atmospheres and I expect that to happen again this year."

There are plenty of opportunities for the Coliseum to be full later in the season with home games against No. 2 Oregon, No. 17 Washington and No. 1 Ohio State all within the span of a month in the middle of the season. If fans aren't showing up for those games, then a legitimate debate is there to be had about USC fan support.

And let's be real, there are going to be myriad programs across the country who may also have more empty seats than normal in Week 1. Thanks to a heat dome across the southeast, heat indexes will be over 100 degrees in many college cities and towns.

The high in Austin, is set to be 96 for Texas' 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff against Texas State and the highs will be well into the 90s in places like Athens, Georgia, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Knoxville, Tennessee. If fans want to watch from home or in the shade by a pool, instead of going to a game against an inferior opponent, can you really blame them?