While the Gamecocks were inside battling Texas A&M, 104 people were ejected from Williams-Brice during this year’s season opener, according to the USC Division of Law Enforcement and Safety.
Ejection numbers rose last weekend when USC played ECU, with 142 ejections from the stadium Saturday, USCPD Capt. Eric Grabski said.
And of the 246 ejected in the first two weeks, 144 were students who will not be returning to Williams-Brice this season, Student Ticketing Coordinator Adrienne White said.
“We know when we have a home opener and we’re playing a rival team that we’re going to have higher arrests,” Grabski said.
Last year’s season opener against UNC saw 151 ejections, a higher number than the first two weeks of this season combined.
Last weekend, most charges against students were related to alcohol, fighting, smoking and public disorderly conduct, White said.
“There was a lot of alcohol usage,” she said. “And the amount of females in particular that I saw being wheeled out from passing out on Thursday and on Saturday was about the same.”
But every game is different. The Gamecocks are only two games into the season, so this week’s numbers can only be compared to those of the week before. However, Grabski said, these numbers are comparable to years past.
In the days leading up to each game, students were in a frenzy requesting tickets and securing their seats in the stadium. USC students put everything on hold to log onto the student account manager and wait in the virtual line for however long it took to get in.
The first game of the season saw 15,690 student ticket requests for the available 11,000, White said.
In order to be awarded a ticket to the first game of the season, students needed to hold seven loyalty points.
Of the 11,000 tickets awarded, at least 9,500 students scanned theirs at the game, White said. This left 1,500 unused.
And before the Gamecocks took on the Pirates last weekend, 14,838 students put in requests for the available 13,000 tickets. Nine loyalty points were required to initially receive a ticket.
At least 11,000 tickets were scanned at the second game of the season, White said, leaving around 2,000 unclaimed.
This year’s season opener was played on a Thursday night once again and started an hour earlier than Saturday’s matchup. Temperatures dropped off a bit by the weekend, and many took advantage of the young semester to skip Thursday classes.
But if you ask White, those factors aren’t relevant when it comes to USC students on gameday.
“The game could be on a Sunday,” she said. “It’s probably going to be the same behavior.”