Report: USC Football Tried To Back Out Of 2024 Season Opener Against LSU

Lincoln Riley and the Trojans attempted to back out of the Week 1 contest in Las Vegas, hoped to cancel the matchup.

Oct 28, 2023; Berkeley, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley before the game against the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

We're less than 100 days until LSU's season opener against the USC Trojans in Las Vegas with storylines already beginning to emerge surrounding the anticipated matchup.

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that USC head coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans had been trying to get out of the 2024 Week 1 contest ever since Riley was hired. Saturday Down South's Matt Hayes first reported the news.

“USC tried for nearly 2 years to find a way out of a contract to play LSU in Las Vegas because Trojans coach Lincoln Riley didn’t want the game, multiple sources told Saturday Down South," Hayes said.

“As late as last fall, after Jen Cohen was hired away from Washington to be the new USC athletic director, the USC administration was still trying to get out of the game, including offering other opponents to LSU."

For USC, the program is making the move over to the Big Ten, which is important to Fox Sports given the current TV deal in place.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 1, with ESPN/ABC having the rights to the broadcast and Fox has voiced their displeasure with this.

“At one point, Fox Sports got involved and tried to further the process,” Hayes said. “The network wasn’t enamored with the idea of USC’s first game as a Big Ten member broadcast by rival ABC/ESPN.”

Now at ⁦@SatDownSouth: Sources: USC spent nearly 2 years trying to get out of playing LSU in Las Vegas. ⁩ https://t.co/tEfYTesKhU

— Matt Hayes (@MattHayesCFB) May 29, 2024

It's important to note that both programs head coaches (USC's Riley and LSU’s Brian Kelly) share the same representation/agent, Trace Armstrong.

Hayes reports Armstrong also got involved in the process with hopes of swaying Kelly's opinion in changing the game.

Despite efforts to back out of the Week 1 contest on the USC side, LSU and USC will square off in Las Vegas on Sept. 1 in one of the more anticipated showdowns on Labor Day weekend.

For the Tigers, it'll be a new-look offense led by redshirt junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier with LSU prepared to carry their success from a season ago into the 2024 season.

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