USC will battle LSU in the first week of the college football season On Sunday, September 1st, in Las Vegas, Nevada, but at one time, the Trojans wanted zero part of the Tigers and out of the game.
USC Has Been Trying For Two Years To Get Out Of The Game
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A report from Matt Hayes from Saturdaydownsouth.com dropped on Tuesday. It stated that USC has been trying for the last two years to get out of their Week One game against LSU this upcoming season.
Hayes wrote
USC tried for nearly 2 years to find a way out of a contract to play LSU in Las Vegas because Trojans coach Lincoln Riley didn’t want the game, multiple sources told Saturday Down South.
As late as last fall, after Jen Cohen was hired away from Washington to be the new USC athletic director, the USC administration was still trying to get out of the game, including offering other opponents to LSU, sources said.
It’s pretty crazy that the Trojans wanted zero part of playing LSU, but it doesn’t seem like they were scared of the competition the Tigers were going to bring, but more so about the Trojan’s new move to the Big Ten conference in the fall and the network the game will be shown on.
The Big Ten Adds Four New Teams
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The Big Ten is expanding this season, adding four new teams: USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington. The Big Ten last season moved their games away from being shown on ESPN and now will only be on the networks of FOX, NBC, and CBS during Big Ten play, but that doesn’t mean a nonconference matchup can’t be on ESPN and that is exactly the network the Week One game USC and LSU will be on.
Fox had issues with USC’s first game in the new conference being shown on ESPN, and the network even got involved to help get the Trojans out of the game, as Hayes stated.
At one point, Fox Sports got involved and tried to further the process. The network wasn’t enamored with the idea of USC’s first game as a Big Ten member broadcast by rival ABC/ESPN
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It seems like the Big Ten wanted the Trojans’ first game in their conference not to be on their rival network. Since the conference doesn’t do business with ESPN anymore, they don’t want them getting all the shine and being the ones showing USC in their first game as part of the Big Ten.
The great news is this game will be happening, and it should be a great game; every college football fan should be very excited about this one because it could be seen as an early playoff game with both teams expecting to be great this season.