LSU and Rice moved their non-conference football game from 2024 to 2029 last month, which gave the Tigers space to accommodate a potential nine-game Southeastern Conference schedule that could begin next year with an expanded league.
The teams mutually agreed to an amended deal Feb. 10, the day after Texas and Oklahoma were cleared to join the SEC a year earlier than originally planned, according to the game contract.
The Tigers now have non-conference games in 2024 scheduled with USC, UCLA and South Alabama. They open Sept. 1 against USC in Las Vegas. They host UCLA in the second half of a home-and-home series Sept. 21, and South Alabama comes a week later to Tiger Stadium.
The game with Rice was originally set for Sept. 7, 2024, inside Tiger Stadium. It will now be played Sept. 29, 2029, as first reported by The Roost. LSU also has a home non-conference game against Arizona State scheduled that season.
As part of the new agreement, Rice will receive $1.7 million instead of $2 million for the game. LSU must pay $400,000 by the end of 2024 and deliver the rest after the completion of the game.
LSU and Rice first agreed in 2016 to two future games. They planned to play Week 3 of the 2020 season at NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans, and in 2024. The first game, for which Rice agreed to pay $3.5 million to LSU, was canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and has not been rescheduled.
The rest of LSU’s 2024 schedule has not been determined. The Southeastern Conference is debating a nine-game or eight-game format when the league increases to 16 teams with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma.
Teams would have one permanent opponent and seven rotating in the eight-game format. With nine SEC games, teams would have three permanent opponents and six rotating spots.
Sources told The Advocate and coach Brian Kelly later confirmed that LSU’s three permanent opponents would be Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
“I think nine is great because it’s going to prepare you and your football team for what eventually will be in 2024 an expanded playoff field,” Kelly said, “and I think that’s a good thing.”
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