Guess the polish has already come off the apple.

At least two close friends of mine decided not to come because they were so stressed out that it was going to be another disaster. Everyone was excited at the start of the year, but when it is a freaking disaster to get into the Coliseum, lots of people would rather sit at home and watch than try to fight their way into it.

Good job athletics, you got student attendance down to where you wanted it. I'll be waiting for the retraction of the plan to provide season tickets for all undergrads for next year.

I know many students bought tickets to sit with their parents and not get left outside with their parents inside.

I know several students who did not even attempt going to the game today because they were afraid of a repeat of the mess from last time.

the student section seemed full

Scott, you seem to take every attempt possible to degrade the USC program (maybe because they no long allow you to interview on campus without a chaparone). Though you did not explicitly say it, it was quite obvious that you are implying that USC students no longer care about the team. The stats are very misleading because it is Parents Weekend (which you conveniently failed to mention) and many students chose to spend time with their family (God forbid!) over time watching the Trojans. Some people do not consider following USC football the center of their lives (unlike a certain LA Daily News writer who blogs for this site).

many students only seem to care about the "big" games anyway.

The Parent's Weekend excuse is bogus. That was the only game SC would come close to selling out besides ucla and ND during the late 90's. True SC fans were there Saturday. Being a student doesn't mean you're automatically a legit fan. Like Roger said above, maybe the polish has already come off the apple for many of the bandwagoners. That's fine with me ... they wouldn't have been helping cheer on that last drive anyways.

How totally funny. As I saw the obviously non-full student section yesterday, I thought of all of this whining about how the university botched the situation, etc. and wondered what the spin would befrom the complainers. Looks like it was that the first game was so mishandled (and I think everyone agrees that it was), that a lot of students don't want to come any more. Too funny. Folks complain without end, hold meetings, get the press on their side, actually get the policy changed, and then still complain. I have learned over the years that to some critics, there is nothing worse than their problem actually being solved because they got so much satisfaction from complaining. This is one such situation.

The students decided to hit the 9-0 instead.