LSU schedules first football games vs Grambling, Southern

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Defending national champion LSU has for the first time scheduled football games with Southern and Grambling State, LSU athletic director Scott Woodward announced on Monday.

Both games involving the historically black Louisiana schools will be played in LSU’s Tiger Stadium, with Southern visiting on Sept. 10, 2022 and Grambling visiting on Sept. 9, 2023.

“This is an incredible opportunity to join our fan bases of these historic Louisiana institutions and championship programs,” Woodward said. “These dates will be days to celebrate not only football, but the state of Louisiana and all of our people. It’s time and we are all proud to be a part of it.”

LSU first started playing football in 1894, while Southern football dates back to 1916 and Grambling to 1928.

The main campuses for Southern and LSU are both in Baton Rouge, about 10 miles apart. Grambling, a program made famous by the late coach Eddie Robinson, is north Louisiana.

Grambling and Southern, who are fierce rivals, are rich in tradition and have been among the most dominant programs in the history of the Southwestern Athletic Conference — an FCS-level league comprised of historically black colleges and universities.

Grambling has won 26 SWAC titles and 15 black college football national championships. Southern has won the SWAC 19 times and claimed 11 black college football national titles.

Both schools have produced dozens of NFL players, and also boast highly popular marching bands which are booked for numerous events outside of school activities, such as parades and halftime shows at professional sporting events.