WATCH: LSU football QBs during their team’s first preseason practice
LSU quarterbacks Garrett Nussmeier (13), Rickie Collins (10), AJ Swann (15) and Colin Hurley (16) work out during the first fall practice.
BATON ROUGE – Given the dramatic changes in the college football landscape recently and what may be ahead, LSU football coach Brian Kelly says the existence of top non-league neutral-site games may be wiped off the face of the earth.
No. 12 LSU faces No. 23 USC in the Vegas Kickoff Classic in a thrilling season opener that will draw all the attention of the sports world as it is the only Sunday night game (6:30 p.m. CT, ABC).
The game will be played on neutral ground, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Since the agreement to play in July 2021, there have been major changes in college football, specifically in the conferences that LSU and USC compete in. The Southeastern Conference has since added two traditional and consistent national championship contenders from the Big 12, Texas and Oklahoma, so the SEC now includes 16 schools.
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Perhaps a bigger change is that USC is no longer in the now-defunct Pac-12, but joined the Big Ten last offseason.
“Conference realignment had not yet occurred when this agreement came about,” LSU football coach Brian Kelly said during his press conference Monday during the first week of play of the 2024 season. “We were so far along in getting this done in terms of Las Vegas’ involvement and the financial considerations — it’s not about finances, we’re not just playing this game for the money — we’re playing because two teams share a national championship. Two elite programs are coming together.”
“That’s why I wanted this duel”
The Trojans were already playing in a conference that mandated a nine-game league schedule, and there was speculation that the SEC might adopt a nine-game model for its current 16-team league in the near future.
These changes in the landscape of college football and its Power Four conferences could potentially result in the sport’s fans attending major games at neutral, non-conference sites less frequently, according to Kelly.
“That was before the conference changed, before they moved up to the Big Ten. We definitely felt like that was a great matchup. In the future, that kind of thing might not be the type of thing you see in openers. I think we were too far along to make any changes to that opener,” Kelly said. “I think it’s still an appealing opener despite the changes that have occurred.”
“We may not see anything like this again in the future.”
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Have questions about LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at[email protected].
