Jake Olson, blind former USC long snapper, comments on Week 0 attendance talk

What began as a Week 0 attendance conversation around USC quickly turned into a light, human moment from one of the program’s more recognizable former players. Jake Olson, a blind USC alumnus and long snapper who later became known publicly for his perspective beyond the football field, offered his take on the discussion that some fans may not have been paying close attention to the Trojans playing in the opener window.

USC was part of the Week 0 slate intended to start the 2026 college football season earlier than the traditional kickoff rhythm. With the sport’s calendar now filled by prime-time matchups and expanded viewing options, Week 0 games can pull in different kinds of attention than the later-starting weeks. The reporting around Olson’s comments framed it as a recognizable offseason-to-regular-season test, where fan habits and attention sometimes lag behind the schedule.

Olson’s tone, according to the report, played off the idea that USC supporters might have been distracted or simply not keyed into the fact that Lincoln Riley’s team was on the field on Saturday. Rather than treating the attendance talk as a serious critique, the former long snapper approached it as something closer to a shared cultural moment in college football, where the sport’s schedule, media coverage, and fan routines collide.

The broader context is that attendance can become a proxy debate, whether about engagement, travel, or the casual viewer’s awareness of nontraditional kickoff dates. Week 0, in particular, can widen the gap between who is “always locked in” and who is only starting to tune in once the season feels fully underway. When a power program like USC plays early, those comparisons tend to draw extra attention, even if the underlying reasons vary.

While Olson’s comments were described as “hilarious,” they also underscore a serious reality for programs and coaches: the environment surrounding games is part of the experience. USC under Riley operates in a high-expectation setting where every element, including how fans show up and how quickly they mobilize, contributes to the larger stadium narrative.

There is, however, a limitation to what can be concluded from this kind of commentary. A playful take on attendance does not provide verified attendance figures or a definitive explanation for crowd size. It mostly captures the spirit of the moment and the perception that timing affects awareness, not the measurement of it.

For viewers and readers, the next watch item is how USC’s Week 0 experience translates into sustained engagement as the schedule moves deeper into the regular season. If attention and turnout normalize in later weeks, Week 0 may look like a scheduling quirk. If not, it will reinforce how difficult it can be for even elite programs to convert every fan into a prompt-season viewer.

Jake Olson’s perspective also adds an additional layer to the usual attendance debate, reminding audiences that players can influence the conversation in ways that go beyond the scoreboard. Olson has long stood as an example of how to speak to the sport as a community rather than a purely competitive product, and his willingness to comment on Week 0 talk highlights that approach. Olson’s comments, as reported, turned a potentially tedious topic into something supporters could recognize and share.