SEC threatens to kick LSU out of conference

The soap opera that has been LSU's back-and-forth with the Southeastern Conference over potentially putting former NFL players on its roster has reached a boiling point. The SEC on Tuesday filed an amendment to a previously filed federal lawsuit against LSU, head football coach Lane Kiffin and other university officials, seeking "the authority to expel LSU from the league," according to ESPN's Pete Thamel. Thamel wrote that the SEC "is not expected to take such action," but a statement released minutes later by the SEC indicated otherwise. "Today, the Southeastern Conference, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, filed a request for a temporary restraining order in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama to protect the right of the Conference and its member institutions to govern themselves," the league said."The SEC and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon governance procedures, the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed. A commitment to those rules, and to the core principles of the Southeastern Conference, is an essential element of SEC membership. Today's filing is necessary to defend that right and preserve the Conference's ability to govern competition among its members." Per Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, the SEC also scheduled a Sept. 10 meeting to determine "whether to terminate" LSU as a member of the conference. The SEC has scheduled a meeting Thursday to "decide whether to terminate Louisiana State University ('LSU') as an SEC member institution pursuant to Section 3.1.5 of the SEC Constitution and Bylaw." https://t.co/50wSMQ25Pg pic.twitter.com/mpp5aGES3H LSU was one of the SEC's founding members in 1933. LSU beat Clemson 51-10 on Saturday in Kiffin's first game as the head coach in Baton Rouge, though former NFL players Zxavian Harris and Dae'Quan Wright did not play and are not currently on the Tigers roster. "I had to make a decision that is for the big picture of LSU and the LSU football program — with the uncertainties of what potentially could have come by adding them to the roster," Kiffin said Saturday on "College GameDay." Kiffin added that the decision not to put Harris or Wright on the roster wasn't easy and said that he felt for both players. Wright played for Kiffin at Ole Miss from 2024-25 and went through NFL rookie minicamp with the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles after going undrafted. Harris played for Kiffin at Ole Miss from 2022-25 and was signed by the New Orleans Saints as a free agent in July before being released on Aug. 8. As unfathomable as it might seem that a brand as big as LSU could be kicked out of one of the preeminent conferences in college sports, the SEC seems none too pleased with the university. LSU plays Louisiana Tech at Tiger Stadium on Saturday before going to Oxford to face Kiffin's former school, Ole Miss, on Sept. 19 in what is one of the most anticipated games of the college football season. Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he's not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker