The day after Texas and Oklahoma were cleared last month to join the Southeastern Conference a year earlier than originally planned in 2024, LSU and Rice moved their non-conference football game that season to 2029.
The teams mutually agreed to an amended deal Feb. 10, according to the game contract. LSU now has space to accommodate a potential nine-game SEC schedule that could begin next year with an expanded league.
The game with Rice was originally set for Sept. 7, 2024, inside Tiger Stadium. It will instead be played Sept. 29, 2029, as The Roost first reported. LSU also has a home non-conference game that season scheduled against Arizona State.
As part of the new agreement, Rice will receive $1.7 million instead of $2 million for the game. The contract said 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.
LSU now has non-conference games in 2024 scheduled with USC, UCLA and South Alabama. It opens Sunday, Sept. 1 against USC at 6:30 p.m. CT in the Vegas Kickoff Classic at Allegiant Stadium. It then hosts UCLA in the second half of a home-and-home series Sept. 21, and South Alabama comes a week later to Tiger Stadium.
The rest of LSU's 2024 schedule has not been determined. The SEC is debating a nine-game or eight-game format when the league increases to 16 teams with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, which coincides with the first year of an expanded College Football Playoff.
Teams would have one permanent opponent and seven rotating in the eight-game model. With nine SEC games per year, 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.”