The Southeastern Conference released its 2024 schedule Wednesday night and the 100th season of football in Tiger Stadium will have home games against UCLA, Ole Miss, Alabama, and Oklahoma.
The Alabama game is in its usual spot, early November, but instead of playing Texas A&M in the regular season finale, the Tigers will end the year by hosting SEC newcomer Oklahoma.
We already knew LSU would open the season by playing USC in Las Vegas on Sunday, September 1st.
Also previously announced, the home opener against Nicholls on September 7th. It will be the Colonels first ever visit to Tiger Stadium. They were supposed to play LSU in 2020, but the Covid pandemic and the SEC only schedule wiped that game off the books.
LSU will play its SEC opener on September 14th at South Carolina. It will be the Tigers first trip to Columbia since 2008. LSU has won seven straight against Carolina.
After playing the Gamecocks, LSU will play another Big 10 team as they will host UCLA. The Bruins are making a return trip to Tiger Stadium as LSU played the Bruins in the Rose Bowl to open the 2021 season.
On September 28th, LSU will host South Alabama. It’s the first ever meeting between the two schools and it will be the final nonconference game of the season. From a fan perspective it’s nice to get the non-conference games out of the way in September.
Because there are 14 weekends from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, there will be two bye weeks. (The same scenario will occur in 2025 and then back to one bye week in 2026.)
LSU will have the first weekend of October off.
The Tigers will get back at it on October 12th when they host Ole Miss. Can these two teams duplicate the exhilarating performance they had last October in Oxford?
After the Rebels, it’s a trip to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks on October 19th.
Instead of the regular season finale against Texas A&M, LSU will head to College Station on October 26th.
Following the rivalry game against the Aggies, LSU gets another bye and then they will host Alabama on November 9th. The Crimson Tide will also have a bye week before their trip to Death Valley.
Just like 2023, LSU will follow up the Alabama contest with a game against Florida. This time the Tigers will have to travel Gainesville. I’m sure the Gators will be glad Jayden Daniels is gone.
Instead of playing a weak nonconference game before the regular season finale, LSU will host Vanderbilt on November 23rd. A breather, but also a trap game.
That’s because LSU will close out the regular season by hosting Oklahoma on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. It will be the Sooners first ever trip to Tiger Stadium.
Oklahoma closes out the regular season by hosting Alabama and then traveling to Baton Rouge. Welcome to the SEC Sooners!!
No divisional play next season. The top two teams in the 14-team conference will play in the SEC title. It would be awesome if the final game of the regular season will determine if LSU gets to go to the SEC Championship game or could a win secure a spot in the new 12-team college football playoff.
September 1 vs USC in Las Vegas
September 7 Nicholls
September 14 at South Carolina
September 21 UCLA
September 28 South Alabama
October 12 Ole Miss
October 19 at Arkansas
October 26 at Texas A&M
November 9 Alabama
November 16 at Florida
November 23 Vanderbilt
November 30 Oklahoma
A couple of other nuggets about the schedule. Texas-Oklahoma will continue to play each other in Dallas. The Red River Rivalry is scheduled for October 12th.
Texas-Texas A&M will resume its rivalry as the two schools will play each other Thanksgiving weekend. Also, Ole Miss and Mississippi State will be on Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. As of right now, no SEC game is scheduled for Thanksgiving night. The Egg Bowl has been on Thanksgiving night for the last seven years.
Georgia will travel to Alabama on September 28th in a rematch of this year’s SEC Championship game. A game time has already been announced. It will kick off at 6:30 PM central on ABC. Remember, no more CBS games, so expect to see the bigger match-ups move to prime-time and televised on ABC.
