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LSU in ‘early stages’ of planning overseas football game, per Brian Kelly
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LSU is working to schedule a game overseas in the near future, head coach Brian Kelly has confirmed.
Kelly shared the news of those efforts while speaking with reporters on Thursday. Specifics such as where the game would be played and who the Tigers would play are still being worked out, Kelly indicated.
Kelly told reporters that LSU has retained the services of a travel company to help put together a game for LSU overseas. Kelly said the company, Anthony Travel, helped organize Florida State’s upcoming Ireland game against Georgia Tech.
“We’re bringing in a new travel company in July, Anthony Travel,” Kelly said, via The Advocate. “They’ve been part of putting together those arrangements in Ireland. They’ve got Georgia Tech (and Florida State) this year.
“They’ve approached us about it. We’re in the early stages of it, but it’s something that we would like to do.”
If LSU does end up playing a game overseas, it would be the Tigers’ first official game out of the United States in over 100 years. The last time LSU played a football game on foreign soil was in 1907. That year, LSU faced off against the University of Havana in Cuba on Christmas Day in 1907. The Tigers won 56-0.
Ireland has become a popular host for college football teams in Week 0 every year as part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. Last season, Notre Dame and Navy met in Dublin to kick off the 2023 campaign. This year, it will be FSU and Georgia Tech.
Kansas State and Iowa State are slated to play in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in 2025. Pitt and Wisconsin are currently scheduled to play that game in 2027. However, those are the only future matchups that have been announced so far.
LSU’s future nonconference schedules could shift slightly in the coming years depending on whether or not the SEC decides to move to a 9-game schedule in the future. The SEC has not announced its scheduling format beyond the 2025 season.
If the SEC does move to a 9-game schedule in 2026, that would mean LSU only has 1 available nonconference slot for that season. The Tigers are already contracted to face Clemson and McNeese State in 2026.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
