This has officially gone way beyond a disagreement over player eligibility.
The SEC is now seeking the legal authority to kick LSU out of the conference.
According to On3’s Pete Nakos, the SEC filed an amendment Tuesday to its federal lawsuit against LSU, Lane Kiffin and other university officials. The amended complaint asks a federal court to affirm that the conference has the authority to expel LSU with a two-thirds vote of its members.
That’s insane.
We’re talking about LSU, one of the biggest brands and most successful football programs in the SEC, potentially being removed from the conference.
And somehow, Lane Kiffin has found himself right in the middle of all of it.
The entire fight stems from LSU’s attempt to bring former NFL players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris back to college football. Both participated in NFL activities after previously playing for Kiffin at Ole Miss, but a Louisiana judge granted a preliminary injunction allowing them to return to college.
The SEC strongly disagreed and sued LSU, arguing that allowing former professional players to return undermines conference rules and competitive fairness.
LSU ultimately chose not to play Wright or Harris against Clemson, despite having the court ruling on its side.
Apparently, that hasn’t ended the fight.
The SEC has also called a special meeting for September 10 to discuss LSU’s conference membership, according to Nakos.
That might be the craziest part of this entire story.
Actually kicking LSU out still feels like an extreme outcome. But we’ve gone from the possibility being almost unimaginable to the conference putting its authority to do exactly that into a federal lawsuit.
College football has dealt with conference realignment, NIL chaos, transfer portal madness and seemingly endless lawsuits.
But the SEC potentially kicking LSU out of the conference because of a fight started by Lane Kiffin?
That would be a new level of chaos.
