As all avid football fans know by now, college football this year is going to be conducted differently than before amid COVID-19. 
Although a vast amount of guidelines have been implemented to ensure safety for players, coaches, fans, etc., one of the more enticing changes lies with the conference-only schedule. 
Of the Power-Five conferences that are still on track to play this season — Big 12, ACC and SEC, all of them will be playing under a new format that will consist of ten games, all against conference opponents. Though this is going to be an adjustment for all parties involved; it is going to affect some more than others. 
For the Big 12, a typical schedule includes nine in-conference games so it will not be much of an adjustment for them. Traditionally, the SEC schedule consists of 12 regular-season games. Of those 12, eight are played against conference opponents. This season, SEC schools will have two additional in-conference opponents, playing ten total to round-out their already gruesome schedule. The ACC will follow the same format. 
Although the conference-only format can increase the amount of competition for some involved, it also eliminates some of the most talked-about rivalries in college football. 
For LSU, they are front-and-center in this situation. The conference-only schedule nixes a marquee, much-anticipated, grudge match against fellow college football blue-blood, the Texas Longhorns. It also nixes a game against Rice. 
Aside from Texas and Rice being erased from the schedule, LSU’s revamped schedule could provide them some luck in hopes to stay on the throne of college football. 
The Tigers will start and end their gauntlet, conference-only schedule in Tiger Stadium. LSU will square off against Mississippi State on Sept. 26 and close out against Ole Miss on Dec. 5. 
Following the season opener, Ed Orgeron and company will face their newly added opponents in back-to-back weeks. LSU will travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt on Oct. 3 and host Missouri on Oct. 10. 
The last half of October could be looked as the more-challenging stretch for LSU. The Tigers will round out October with a battle of the Tigers when they play Auburn on the Plains, but a blood-bath with Florida in Gainesville (Oct. 17) and a match against South Carolina in Tiger Stadium (Oct. 24) stand in between. 
Traditionally, LSU plays against Alabama on the first Saturday of November. This year, the marquee matchup between the Tigers and Tide will be delayed a week. LSU will host Alabama on Nov. 14. Luckily, LSU was still granted a bye-week before their date with the Tide. 
For the first and only time all season, LSU will face back-to-back road games. The first against Arkansas on Nov. 21 and then Texas A&M on Nov. 28 before rounding things out against Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium on Dec. 5. 
“Excited about it. The schedule is a great schedule,” Orgeron said on 104.5 ESPN Baton Rouge. “Obviously, 10 SEC games, opening up at home against Mississippi State then Vanderbilt then Missouri and then obviously a big road game against Florida. We’re going to take them one at a time. I think it’s a very favorable schedule, but it’s a schedule that we have to play well each week.”