SEC asks judge to clear the way for possible vote to remove LSU

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) -The SEC is asking a federal judge to stop LSU officials and others from interfering with a Sept. 10 meeting where the conference could vote to kick LSU out of the SEC. The motion, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, asks the court to bar LSU President Wade Rousse, athletic director Verge Ausberry, head football coach Lane Kiffin, the LSU Board of Supervisors and Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill from taking any action — including filing or joining lawsuits — to stop the SEC from considering LSU's removal or to undo the vote if it happens. The conference says the vote will happen under Section 3.1.5 of the SEC Constitution and Bylaws, which lets member schools be kicked out by a two-thirds vote of the conference's CEOs. The SEC has already sued LSU officials and Kiffin in the same court, accusing them of a 'deliberate and coordinated campaign' to recruit former professional football players for this season, as previously reported. That original lawsuit named LSU, its Board of Supervisors, Rousse, Ausberry and Kiffin, arguing LSU's actions violated the SEC's First Amendment right to choose who it associates with. The SEC released the following statement: '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 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.' The newly amended complaint removes LSU and its Board of Supervisors as defendants. Instead, it targets LSU officials individually, in their official capacities only. It also adds Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill as a defendant, along with all 14 individual members of the LSU Board of Supervisors. The SEC says Murrill filed a brief backing the former players in their Louisiana court case, showed up to sit with their attorneys at a hearing, and repeatedly criticized the SEC and its commissioner in public. The complaint quotes her calling the SEC's lawsuit 'legal garbage' and 'garbage & frivolous,' along with posts on X that included 'Geaux Tigers' and defenses of the players' case. The amended complaint also says two former professional players, Zxavian Harris and Dae'Quan Wright, are on LSU's campus, enrolled at the university and practicing with the football team — and that LSU left two roster spots open after the Sept. 4 NCAA deadline so the players could be added later. As previously reported, the fight traces back to lawsuits filed by former college football players — including some who had signed NFL contracts — challenging NCAA eligibility rules after the NCAA adopted a '5-for-5' eligibility model in June 2026. On Aug. 19, a group of those players sued in Louisiana state court in a case called Pyburn v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, seeking a fifth year of eligibility. The SEC's Presidents and Chancellors, including Rousse on half of LSU, unanimously backed a conference policy statement on Aug. 25 saying athletes who signed pro contracts or landed on pro rosters shouldn't be allowed back in college sports. The next day, Commissioner Greg Sankey laid out penalties for breaking that rule, including a coach suspension for half a season, a fine equal to 50% of the sport's annual budget, and a loss of conference voting privileges. Rousse abstained from that penalty vote. Kiffin has talked openly about LSU's pursuit of former professional players, including at an Aug. 24 news conference, an Aug. 25 appearance on 'The Pat McAfee Show,' an Aug. 31 news conference, and September appearances on ESPN's 'College GameDay' and the 'Marty & McGee' show. As previously reported, Kiffin said Sept. 5 on 'College GameDay' that he chose not to add Wright and Harris to LSU's roster for the season opener against Clemson because he had to think about 'the big picture of LSU and the LSU football program' — even though a Baton Rouge judge had already cleared the way for LSU to add them. LSU turned in a roster with 103 players, leaving two spots open. On Aug. 27, the players suing in Louisiana added the SEC and Sankey to their case. A Louisiana court issued an amended restraining order and, after a Sept. 3 hearing, orally granted a preliminary injunction blocking the SEC from enforcing its rules or penalties against the players or against any school or coach the players choose to play for this season. The SEC says that injunction leaves it no way to penalize LSU directly — which is why the conference says removing LSU from the league altogether is now the option on the table for the Sept. 10 meeting. The complaint also says 15 of the SEC's 16 CEOs met informally without Rousse on Sept. 4 to talk through the situation. No penalties or other official action came out of that meeting.