USC, LSU to meet in 2024 at Allegiant Stadium
Southern California and Louisiana State often enter each season with hopes of playing for the national championship.
They instead will meet at Allegiant Stadium in early 2024 in a showdown of traditional college football powers, according to sources.
An official announcement is expected Thursday.
The matchup is the latest top college football event for the stadium, which opened last year.
Brigham Young and Arizona meet Sept. 4, the Pac-12 Championship will take place there the next two seasons, and the Las Vegas Bowl will pit teams between the Pac-12 and the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences over the next five years.
Local officials hope Allegiant also will be host to at least one College Football Playoff National Championship, and securing this type of matchup should bode well in their attempts to land the title game. It also could set up future grand early-season matchups involving Power Five teams, especially after Tuesday’s announcement that the Pac-12, Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference would schedule more games among those leagues.
From a national perspective, USC-LSU is the most notable matchup to date in Las Vegas given the deep history for both programs and conferences.
USC, which has won 11 national championships, is the most historic program in the Pac-12. The Trojans’ most recent title, though, was in 2004. They shared the 2003 title with LSU because of split postseason polls.
The Trojans have a short history of playing in Las Vegas. They lost 10-6 to Utah in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl and defeated Fresno State — quarterbacked by Raiders QB Derek Carr — 45-20 in the 2013 game.
In addition to the 2019 title, LSU has claimed three other national championships, including three since 2003. The Tigers have won five SEC titles since 2001.
LSU has never played in Las Vegas, and only one other SEC team has competed here. Arkansas was beaten 31-14 by UNLV in the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl. But an SEC team will face the Pac-12 representative in the 2022 and 2024 Las Vegas Bowls.
Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
