I have been to numerous bowl games(and other big sporting events) in my lifetime and you will ALMOST always be able to scalp tickets 30 miniutes before game time for about half their face value........Super Bowls excluded.......which by the way doesnt even compare to a top-notch bowl game.........WAY OVERRATED AND EXPENSIVE.
Another factor in this game..........USC is not a good traveling team, one of the very worst of any elite program in the country.
Allready knew this, but was never more evident than two years ago when i attended the USC-IOWA Orange Bowl game.
From the time I arrived at the stadium at noon, till kick-off at 8pm, I swear i never seen OVER 50 USC fans TOTAL! Meanwhile, there were no LESS than 55,000 IOWA fans that i tailgated with in those 8 hours! Even with the game sold out, tickets could be had for about one third face value 30 miniutes before kick-off.
At the LSU-IOWA game this year, purchased 4 30 yard line 2nd level 3rd row seats(GREAT SEATS) for $40 each..............$75 face value. If I had shopped a little more and waited a tad longer, could have even done better than that but was to intoxicated and didnt want to mess around, and thus didnt really care.