O/NSO: The heat of the moment edition
The Obvious: One thing seems for sure certain when the No. 6 USC Trojans open up the 2023 season next Saturday, Aug. 26, hosting the unranked San Jose State Spartans in the Coliseum in an early evening 5 p.m. Pacific kickoff time – it’s gonna be hot but probably not as hot as the following week when the Trojans host the Nevada Wolfpack on Saturday, Sept. 2, in the mid-afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Pacific.
The Not So Obvious: It’s certainly no shock that this time of the year in Los Angeles the sun and heat will affect sporting events played in the mid-afternoon and early evening. In fact, whether the Trojans play home or away during late August and into early October, weather can play a factor not only for the teams involved but for attendance, as well.
The real question will be who will be hotter in late August through early October: Trojans All-America and 2022 Heisman winning QB Caleb Williams or the local weather?
Caleb Williams #13
(Photo above by © Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
The Obvious: There has been some discussion on the WeAreSC Members Board regarding how the weather will affect fans attending the first two games of the season, especially with the mid to late-afternoon kickoff times.
The Not So Obvious: Certainly, there are various reasons why fans of certain age levels will or will not attend the early games of the USC season. Younger fans – you can make your own definition of a younger fan – can withstand the effects of the sun and the heat. However, senior citizens, loyal USC fans nonetheless, need to be careful of heat stroke while some are on medications that can affect the body’s reaction. For many fans, it’s watch the game on TV or head to the beach.
It figures that the No. 6 USC Trojans will be playing their first two football games in some very hot Los Angeles weather.
(Photo above by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
In the lifetime of the O/NSO, we’ve certainly attended “heated” USC games during this time of the year that evolved into major survival challenges while still trying to enjoy the game. An O/NSO rule of thumb is “what’s the point if you have to try and survive a game rather than enjoy it”?
The Obvious: So, Trojans readers, what games come to your mind when it comes to surviving the weather this time of the year?
The Not So Obvious: Remember games of weather survival like Oklahoma in L.A. back in 1963? Purdue in the Coli in 1998? Virginia Tech in Landover, Maryland in 2004? Charlottesville, Virginia, against the University of Virginia in 2008? You talk about heated weather survival.
Although USC football fans look forward to the season, when the weather gets really hot in Southern California, it’s beach time.
(Photo above by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Obvious: In 1963, USC hosted Oklahoma on Sept. 28 in the Coliseum when standard local kickoffs throughout college football were 1:30 p.m.
The Not So Obvious: So how hot was it back in 1963 to watch the No. 1 Trojans under head coach John McKay host the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners under legendary head coach Bud Wilkinson? The temperature was listed at over 100 degrees and a reported scorching 118 on the Coli turf. The O/NSO, a 13-year-old at the time was one of the 36,345 fans in attendance, which included around 5,000 Okie fans.
It was so hot that special bamboo canopies had been built to shade the players on the sidelines, and men reportedly sat in the Coli press box without shirts. The Sooners, led by legendary halfback Joe Don Looney, upset the defending national champion Trojans that afternoon, 17-12, but just surviving the elements was a major fan victory.
The Obvious: The Trojans hosted Purdue on Sept. 12, 1998, in the Coliseum, and it was a brutal heat day in L.A., and it was Paul Hackett’s first game as the Trojans’ head football coach.
The Not So Obvious: What was the thinking behind that game, which kicked off at 11:30 a.m. in L.A but found the second half weather to be unbearable and unhealthful? For the 56,623, it was survival at its finest, and how many people realize the Trojans beat a young quarterback named Drew Brees and the Boilermakers, 27-17?
The busiest folks at the game were the rescue and first-aid workers located throughout the Coli, who were attending to fans suffering from all sorts of heat-related issues. The temperature on the field was reportedly 110 degrees. AP reported that even members of the Trojans Marching Band and a cheerleader fainted from the heat. Having been at the game, I remember by the fourth quarter only about one-third of the fans remained in attendance.
In 1998, former USC head coach Paul Hackett made his Trojans’ debut against Purdue in an extremely hot and unhealthy Coliseum.
(Photo above credit: Donald Miralle /Allsport)
The Obvious: In 2008, the Trojans opened the season at Auburn, but it was a night game in the South and that was challenging, and then the following year in another night game, the Trojans traveled to a neutral site in Landover, Maryland just outside of Washington DC at FedEx Field. This area of the country is legendary for its heat and humidity, as well.
The Not So Obvious: The 2009 game against Virginia Tech was a sellout in steamy FedEx Field. The O/NSO remembers riding the DC metro out to FedEx just praying the legendary heat and humidity would die down when the sun went down. It did not. In front of a sellout of 91,665 sweaty fans, quarterback Matt Leinart, backs Reggie Bush and LenDale White, and a typical aggressive Pete Carroll defense overcame a heated, extremely humid evening and beat a determined Hokies team 24-13.
The Obvious: In 2008, the Trojans again came to the mid-Atlantic and played the University of Virginia in Charlottesville for a day game that was “pass out” weather.
The Not So Obvious: The only thing hotter than that Aug. 30th game was the Trojans, who romped over the Cavaliers 52-7 in again brutal heat and humidity on the Virginia campus and Scott Stadium. As was the custom at the time, WeAreSC publisher Garry Paskwietz and the O/NSO went down on the field for warmup and, my word, it was like being inside an oven wearing a plastic overhead mask. It was horrendous.
The Virginia press box was basically an open-air facility with no air conditioning. Garry and I both agreed, it was so hot and humid on the field we had to go back to the press box. Once inside the press box, behind us was a small, air-conditioned area where we found refuge, and Garry met his idol, former Hall of Fame QB Bob Griese.
As for the game, the O/NSO kept asking himself, “I don’t see how the players in full football uniform could handle the heat and humidity along with the health of USC fans in the stands.”
It was incredibly hot and humid in Virginia’s Scott Stadium when the Trojans played a day game 2008.
The Obvious: And finally, you can’t always accurately predict the weather day a week away or sometimes on the day itself just like you can’t always predict the final score of a game.
The Not So Obvious: So, we’re less than ten days from the opening of the USC Trojans football season, and the weather prediction for Saturday, Aug. 26, is sunny with a high of 87 and a low of 69 degrees with a 1% chance of rain. Well, at least it’s not sunny and 90 degrees. Think of the bright side: Tailgate under a tree, survive the first half, and know that a 5 p.m. kickoff probably means by the fourth quarter the sun will go down and so will the temperature. We won’t talk about that Nevada kickoff at 3:30 p.m. a week later.
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