BATON ROUGE – Starting his 35th season as a college head football coach, Brian Kelly knows a thing or two about the inexact science of season openers.

 

“Openers are difficult,” said Kelly, LSU’s third-year head coach, at his Monday press conference previewing the No. 12 ranked Tigers’ 2024 season opener vs. No. 23 USC on Sunday in Las Vegas, “You practice so much – spring practice, preseason practice – and then you got to flip it to your first performance. You have to execute at a high level in your opener.

 

“Every coach has that uneasiness in the opener because you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get when you flip that script. You hope that it’s flawless execution.”

 

Or not.

 

Kelly began his first two seasons with the Tigers losing to Florida State, 24-23, in 2022 in New Orleans and 45-24 last year in Orlando when LSU was ranked No. 5 nationally in the preseason polls.

 

Tack those defeats on to season-opening losses of 44-34 to Mississippi State in 2020 and 38-27 at UCLA in 2021 in Ed Orgeron’s final two years as LSU’s head coach.

 

It gives LSU the dubious distinction with Nebraska as the only two FBS schools in Power 4 Conferences that have lost four straight season openers.

 

Tigers’ running backs John Emery Jr. and Josh Williams, sixth and fifth-year seniors respectively, are the only LSU players on the current roster who have experienced winning a season-opener. It was a 55-3 blowout of Georgia Southern to start the Tigers’ 2019 15-0 national championship run.

 

“This is my fourth season here and we haven’t won (a season opener) since I’ve been here,” LSU redshirt junior wide receiver Chris Hilton said a couple of weeks ago. “It’s not a fun feeling. This (USC) game has definitely been circled on my calendar.”

 

Kelly listed Hilton as “doubtful” vs. USC because of a bone bruise. Also, Kelly said starting offensive guard Miles Frazier is listed as “probable” because of an ankle injury.

 

“We’ve got him (Hilton) as questionable because we haven’t seen him move around and we’ve seen Miles move around,” Kelly said. “Chris will move around today (Monday) with our trainers and we’ll get a better sense of his situation.

 

“(Freshman redshirt) Kyle Parker will be the next guy up (in case Hilton is limited or can’t play). He’s had a great camp. (Junior Mississippi State) transfer Zavion Thomas and (sophomore) Aaron Anderson would also be featured more.”

 

Kelly, who’s 22-12 in season openers, has previously lost three straight season openers twice in his career, coaching Grand Valley State and then Central Michigan.

 

“Every year is a new team, and certainly we lost some great playmakers (from) last year,” Kelly said. “We’re excited about the football team we have going into the season.”

 

 

 

Series record and last LSU-USC meeting: Series tied at 1-1. LSU won 23-3 in 1985 in Los Angeles in the last meeting.

 

USC head coach: Lincoln Riley (74-18 overall in 7 seasons, 19-8 in two years at USC).

 

 

Appearance fee earned by each team in the game contract: $5 million.

 

Early betting line: LSU is favored by 4½ points.

 

Number of Louisiana natives on USC roster: 1

 

Number of California natives on LSU roster: 2

 

Number of transfers on USC roster from 4-year schools: 27 from 22 schools including 19 players from 14 Power 4 Conference schools.

 

 

RB Jo’Quavious Marks (1,885 career rushing yards, 1,225 career receiving yards in 4 seasons at Mississippi State), C Jonah Monheim (34 career starts), LB Mason Cobb (108 career tackles, 16 TFL in 3 seasons at Oklahoma), SS Akili Arnold (151 career tackles, 13 PBU in 5 years at Oregon State), PK Michael Lantz (31 of 41 career field goals, 97 of 100 extra points in 5 years at Georgia Southern and Minnesota).

 

 

A. Mike Archer

B. Les Miles

C. Nick Saban

D. Ed Orgeron

 

A. 102

B. 85

C. 97

D. 92

 

A. Pass interference

B. Grabbing the facemask

C. Offsides

D. Defensive holding

 

Answers: 1. D 2. A 3. B