DESTIN, Fla. — Book the hotel rooms, plan the tailgate menus and pick your gameday wardrobe.
The LSU football schedule, and the Southeastern Conference schedule at large, is coming into sharper focus.
Kickoff times and TV assignments are now set for LSU’s home opener against Nicholls State and its SEC opener at South Carolina, as the league on Thursday unveiled game information for the first three weeks of the 2024 season.
LSU and Nicholls will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 7 in Tiger Stadium, the game shown on a streaming-only basis on ESPN+. LSU’s game at South Carolina will kick off at 11 a.m. Sept. 14 as the first game of an SEC tripleheader that day on ABC, followed by Texas A&M at Florida at 2:30 p.m. and Georgia at Kentucky at 6:30 p.m.
Plans for LSU’s season opener against Southern California were announced earlier this year. The Tigers and Trojans will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 in Las Vegas. The only college football game that Sunday of Labor Day weekend, it will also be televised on ABC.
ESPN/ABC/Disney have rights to SEC football games as part of a new $3 billion, 10-year deal between the powerhouse conference and the media giant. All LSU games will be shown on one of the ESPN networks, ABC, the SEC Network or on ESPN’s streaming platform.
Other SEC road games can be televised on other networks. LSU has no such games since the USC game will be on ABC and its other non-conference contests are at home.
A handful of other non-LSU SEC games past the first three weeks of the season were also announced Thursday. The SEC championship game will be at 3 p.m. Dec. 7 on ABC.
According to SEC spokesman Chuck Dunlap, television windows for all remaining SEC controlled games will be announced June 11. Those windows are early (11 a.m.-noon), afternoon (2:30-3:30 p.m.) and night (5-7 p.m.). Select games will be designated as "flex games" that could be played in the afternoon on night window.
Under the new TV deal, no SEC games on ESPN or ABC will be scheduled to kickoff after 7 p.m. Central time, Dunlap said.
Commissioner Greg Sankey emerged from the SEC’s general business session with the conference’s presidents and chancellors and talked to reporters about a number of topics. Among them:
Availability reports: The SEC is considering creating a league-wide standard for injury information regarding player availability on game week (LSU and Missouri did so on their own during the 2023 football season). Sankey said he advised SEC presidents and chancellors that the discussion was taking place but did not place it on their agenda.
“This was the first time we had a chance to test drive the idea among our coaches,” Sankey said. “They did not express great opposition.”
Sankey said the SEC has not set upon a model. LSU released availability information during the week like the NFL, while the Big Ten released information on game day.
“Whether it is implemented this fall or not is an open-ended question,” Sankey said. “We prefer the SEC model, a product of learning from all the models that exist.”
Football scheduling: Sankey said that unlike at last year’s SEC meeting, settling on a permanent football schedule format was “not a primary agenda item” in 2024.
The SEC has eliminated divisional play and adopted a temporary eight-game scheduling format for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
LSU will host Ole Miss, Alabama, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma this season and play at South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Florida. In 2025, LSU will go to Ole Miss, Bama, Vandy and Oklahoma and host Soth Carolina, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Florida.
Instead of rushing to keep some sort of eight-game conference schedule format or vote to add a ninth SEC game, Sankey said the league will instead adopt a wait and see approach. The idea is to see how the current slate impacts the SEC’s prospects in the new 12-team College Football Playoff and with non-playoff bowl games.
“We have an opportunity to learn from the CFP selection this fall,” Sankey said. “Where do games fit? How do games flow. It all factors into the decision.”
Basketball scheduling: Sankey said the SEC is looking into expanding the men’s basketball conference schedule from 18 to 20 games but is likely to keep the women’s basketball conference slate at 16 games.
“A number of conferences have moved to a 20-game schedule,” Sankey said. “We’ve had analysis about the reduction of Q1 (Quadrant 1 NET) non-conference opponents. We wanted to hear from our coaches about the ease or lack of it as it affects non-conference scheduling.”
Sankey said a 20-game schedule could be implemented for the 2025-26 season but that it is not a firm deadline for the SEC.
2024 LSU football schedule
Sept. 1 USC* 6:30 p.m. ABC
Sept. 7 Nicholls State 6:30 p.m. ESPN+
Sept. 14 at South Carolina 11 a.m. ABC
Sept. 21 UCLA TBA
Sept. 28 South Alabama TBA
Oct. 12 Ole Miss TBA
Oct. 19 at Arkansas TBA
Oct. 26 at Texas A&M TBA
Nov. 9 Alabama TBA
Nov. 16 at Florida TBA
Nov. 23 Vanderbilt TBA
Nov. 30 Oklahoma TBA
*-at Las Vegas
All times Central