UCLA's future matchup with LSU moves dates

The Tigers' newly-scheduled game against USC in Las Vegas bumped the Bruins' trip to Baton Rouge into September
UCLA's future matchup with LSU moves dates
UCLA's future matchup with LSU moves dates /

Reports surfaced Wednesday that LSU and USC would open the 2024 college football season on Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas.

There was only one problem.

The game between the Tigers and Trojans was pegged for Aug. 31, 2024 – the same exact date UCLA was supposed to travel to Baton Rouge and play LSU to kick off their season. The Bruins' matchup with the Tigers was announced all the way back on March 31, 2014, as part of a home-and-home and there had been no announcements suggesting it had moved or been pulled by either team.

All Bruins has confirmed with a UCLA Athletics spokesperson that the game has officially been moved to Sept. 21, 2024. The spokesperson did not disclose the timeline of the decision.

The Bruins previously had a bye week on that date, so they won't have to do any extra reshuffling with their nonconference schedule to accommodate for the change.

UCLA will now start its season at home versus UNLV on Sept. 7, host Fresno State on Sept. 14 and travel to Louisiana the following week. While the Pac-12 schedule has yet to be released, there will likely no longer be a bye week for the Bruins between the end of nonconference play and the start of the conference season.

UCLA will host LSU in the first leg of the home-and-home Sept. 4, with fans now allowed in the Rose Bowl after being barred from the stands in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 93 seasons since the Bruins started their football program, they have never once played the Tigers.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon was the Publisher and Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s All Bruins from 2021 to 2023. He is now a staff writer at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s Fastball. He previously covered UCLA football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, cross country and golf for The Daily Bruin from 2017 to 2021, serving as the paper's Sports Editor from 2019 to 2020. Connon has also been a contributor for 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' BruinBlitz, Dash Sports TV, SuperWestSports, Prime Time Sports Talk, The Sports Life Blog and Patriots Country, Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s New England Patriots site. His work as a sports columnist has been awarded by the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon graduated from UCLA in June 2021 and is originally from Winchester, Massachusetts.