The Winner of the Big LSU/USC Game Might Be CFP-Bound

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The USC Trojans and LSU Tigers are two of the most storied programs in college football history. They produced the last two Heisman Trophy winners and they have both earned many national and conference championships. These two titans kick off their 2024 season in a clash against one another on Sept. 1 in Las Vegas.

The victor of this early season contest might well be launched into a promising season culminating in a College Football Playoff berth.

LSU, USC Split It

Before diving into the significance of the upcoming bout in Sin City, here's a little background of the two teams' histories involving one another:

The Trojans and Bayou Bengals have only played twice head-to-head, with each team prevailing once. USC beat LSU 17-12 in 1979 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., and the Tigers whipped the Trojans 23-3 in 1984 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The 1979 Trojans team finished its season with an 11-0-1 record, ranked No. 2 in both the final Associated Press (AP) poll and United Press International (UPI) Coaches poll. The 1984 LSU team finished the season with an 8-3-1 record, falling to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Sugar Bowl.

The Trojans and Tigers have both made 55 appearances in bowl games. Ohio State has made the same number of bowl appearances. The only schools with more bowl appearances are Alabama (77), Georgia (62), Texas (59), Oklahoma (57) and Tennessee (56).

The last split national championship in college football was back in the 2003 season. The USC Trojans and LSU Tigers shared claims to the crown, with USC voted No. 1 in the Associated Press (AP) poll and LSU declared No. 1 by the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The Trojans' lone loss came early in the season to Cal in a game played at Berkeley, Calif., but USC then ran the table finishing 12-1 with a Rose Bowl victory over Michigan. The Tigers' only hiccup was a defeat at the hands of the Florida Gators in Baton Rouge. LSU out-dueled Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and completed the season with a 13-1 record.

Thus, the Trojans and Tigers stack up quite evenly in terms of historic performance.

Tigers' 2024 Schedule

College Football Network rates the Tigers' 2024 strength of schedule No. 23 out of the 134 FBS teams. Here is the Bayou Bengals' full 2024 schedule:

• Sept. 1: at Las Vegas, USC

• Sept. 7: Nicholls

• Sept. 14: at South Carolina

• Sept. 21: UCLA

• Sept. 28: South Alabama

• Oct. 12: Ole Miss

• Oct. 19: at Arkansas

• Oct. 26: at Texas A&M

• Nov. 9: Alabama

• Nov. 16: at Florida

• Nov. 23: Vanderbilt

• Nov. 30: Oklahoma

Notably, this 12-game schedule involves only four true away games and one neutral-field matchup.

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Trojans' 2024 Schedule

College Football Network rates USC's 2024 strength of schedule at No. 8 in the nation. Here's a look at the Trojans' docket:

• Sept. 1: at Las Vegas, LSU

• Sept. 7: Utah State

• Sept. 21: at Michigan

• Sept. 28: Wisconsin

• Oct. 5: at Minnesota

• Oct. 12: Penn State

• Oct. 19: at Maryland

• Oct. 25: Rutgers

• Nov. 2: at Washington

• Nov. 16: Nebraska

• Nov. 23: at UCLA

• Nov. 30: Notre Dame

Like the Tigers, USC's schedule only features four true away games. The matchup with LSU is in Vegas, and while the UCLA game is technically designated as an away game, the Rose Bowl, where the Bruins play their home games, is only a hop, skip and jump away from the USC campus, and relatively equal numbers of the teams' fans show up at the historic stadium in Pasadena, Calif.

Highly Anticipated Nonconference Clash

On3 rates the LSU-USC tilt as one of the top 10 nonconference matchups in 2024.

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt said on a recent episode of "The Herd With Colin Cowherd" that he is "bullish" on USC this year and believes a win over the Tigers would propel the Trojans to a spot in the CFP. Klatt continued: “I think that you can make an argument that because of Lincoln Riley’s history and because of what Miller Moss did in the Holiday Bowl, and the skill position players that they have, like Zachariah Branch on the outside, with D'Anton Lynn coming in as the defensive coordinator," the Trojans look formidable.

Cowherd generally agreed noting some favorable aspects of the Trojans' stacked schedule: “Michigan’s a rebuild. They don’t play Ohio State or Oregon. And their Big Ten [Conference] road games, there’s a lot of Rutgers in there.”

Klatt responded: "If they beat LSU, then there’s a really good chance USC is going to the playoff. You go 9-3 in the Big Ten or SEC and you’re going."

Like USC, LSU brings in a promising quarterback who delivered an impressive performance for the Tigers in their bowl game—the ReliaQuest Bowl. Redshirt junior Garrett Nussmeier earned MVP honors for his stellar play in that game. Although two of the Tigers' wide receivers from last year's squad were selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft (Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr.), LSU's wide receiver room remains stocked with ample talent. Thus, Nussmeier will not be short of talented targets this season.

Although the last two Heisman Trophy winners are gone from last year's LSU and USC rosters (Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels), both teams have reloaded. Their meeting in Vegas will be an exciting start to the season.