Unlike Baylor, LSU has decided to add some beef to its schedule, while UCLA has decided to double down on an already meaty future slate.
Monday afternoon, LSU announced that it has added future home-and-home series with both UCLA and Arizona State. The Tigers will travel to the Rose Bowl on Sept. 4, 2021, with the Bruins returning the favor with a trip trip to Tiger Stadium on Aug. 31, 2024. In between in 2022 and 2023, the Tigers will face yet another Pac-12 program: Arizona State, with the Sun Devils hosting the Tigers in Tempe Sept. 10, 2022 and then traveling to Baton Rouge Sept. 9, 2023.
“It’s our goal to play as an attractive non-conference schedule as possible,” LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said in a statement. “Getting teams to agree to a home-and-home series is very difficult but we will continue to make every attempt to bring a BCS-conference caliber opponent to Tiger Stadium.
“Scheduling is very difficult and done many years in advance. It’s important that you put together a schedule that prepares your team for the rigorous SEC schedule but also one that has balance so that your team is ready both mentally and physically for the conference slate. I think the addition of these teams to our future schedules gives us that.”
LSU had previously announced future games against Wisconsin (2014, 2016), North Carolina State (2017), Penn State (2018) and Oklahoma (to be determined). While that’s a fairly impressive non-conference schedule, it pales in comparison to what UCLA has done since October of last year.
During that time, the Bruins have announced games against Texas A&M (2016, 2017), Oklahoma (2018, 2019), Michigan (2022, 2023) to go along with the LSU series.
“In LSU, a perennial SEC power, we are pleased to add yet another marquee opponent to our future schedule,” Alleva’s counterpart, Dan Guerrero, said in his statement. “With such upcoming non-conference games taking us around the country to places like Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan, we’re able to nationally showcase UCLA Football while strengthening our resume come playoff season.”