USC HC Lincoln Riley reportedly wanted to avoid playing Brian Kelly’s LSU in 2024 CFB season

NCAA Football: Holiday Bowl-Louisville at Southern California
USC HC Lincoln Riley reportedly wanted to avoid playing Brian Kelly’s LSU in 2024 CFB season

USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley reportedly wanted to avoid playing the LSU Tigers in 2024.

According to Saturday Down South, USC has been trying to find a way out of a contract to play LSU in Las Vegas for the past two years. The report says that FOX Sports even got involved as the network also didn't want the Trojans' first game as a Big Ten member to be broadcasted by ABC/ESPN.

“They weren’t getting out of the game,” a source told SDS.

SDS reports that Riley even asked his agent, Trace Armstrong, who also represents LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly, for help. Riley had asked Armstrong to get Kelly to change his mind and not have the game be played.

However, none of that worked, and LSU and USC will play each other in Las Vegas to open the season on Sept. 1. Both schools will get $4 million from the Las Vegas Bowl for the game, scheduled in 2021 before Riley took over as head coach of the Trojans.

The report says that getting out of the game has nothing to do with USC's tough Big Ten schedule. The Trojans had been trying to avoid playing LSU before the Big Ten schedule was made.

LSU is a 6-point favorite to beat USC in Week 1.

Who else does USC play in 2024?

The USC Trojans will open their 2024 college football season against LSU in Las Vegas.

USC will also have games against Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State, Nebraska, Washington and Notre Dame.

However, Riley said he has no complaints about the Trojans' schedule:

“I honestly felt like, from the West Coast piece, they did what they needed to do. I mean, the reality is we’re still going to play half of our games and, in most years, a little over half of our games on the West Coast. So I don’t think we’re going to be hurting for it here.
“It’s kind of a new concept, right? There’s a lot that we’re going to learn once we get into it. I think, for the most part, other than some of the home and home or multiple away visits in a row, I thought it was pretty well done.”

The Trojans are +400 to make the playoffs, according to DraftKings, which implies they have a 20% chance of making it.

LSU Tigers Fan? Check out the latest LSU Tigers depth chart, schedule, and roster updates all in one place.

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Edited by Abhimanyu Gupta
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