From Lane Kiffin to RJ Luis, LSU-SEC are still at odds | LSU

If you thought the tension between LSU and the Southeastern Conference had cooled down, or that this would be a sleepy little open date week for the LSU football team, Wednesday came parading down Victory Hill with a whole new marching band full of issues for everyone.

On the SEC football coaches teleconference, Lane Kiffin said he was shocked when it was announced Monday that LSU’s Nov. 7 home game with Alabama would be a 2:30 p.m. kickoff instead of a night game. Then surprise was converted to cynicism because he felt “the SEC wanted to give LSU less advantage (because) of how well LSU plays at night and how intimidating it is to play here.”

Not to be outdone, attorneys for RJ Luis, basketball’s version of the Flying Dutchman, have gotten a judge to sign an injunction preventing the SEC from penalizing LSU for allowing him to play.

I could use a couple of aspirins.

At least.

Let’s start with Kiffin because, you know, it’s football, and any time he makes an utterance The Associated Press flashes a bulletin.

We’re learning a lot about the first-year LSU coach, and he seems to feel the world is against him. There’s some reason for that, but then again, Kiffin is living in a house of the perception of himself that he helped create over his career.

The flip side of Kiffin’s complaining is self-serving, but in a clever way. He’s spent this whole season stoking the “us against the world” flames under his team, the goal to galvanize this United Nations-like squad of players from all over the USA (and in the case of Ty Benefield, parts of Canada) under one collective flag.

In this case, a cause can’t hurt.

As for the Bama game being a 2:30 p.m. kick, well, it certainly isn’t ideal for LSU and not when Tiger Stadium is typically at its best. And this is the first Alabama day game in Tiger Stadium since 2010 when, let the record show, LSU won 24-21.

ESPN dictates the TV slates for the most part. SEC schools certainly benefit from slices of a very large TV rights pie. So, sometimes you get stuck with a less tasty time slot.

It could be worse. ESPN has BYU and Utah, two top-10 teams, playing at 10 a.m. Mountain time next week.

Nov. 7 is a REALLY huge day in college football. The biggest game on the slate is Miami at Notre Dame, a primetime affair on NBC. It definitely appears ESPN doesn’t want LSU-Alabama, traditionally a TV ratings bonanza, to go up against the Hurricanes-Fighting Irish blockbuster. So Georgia at Ole Miss is on ABC (both 6:30 p.m. kicks).

Now, if LSU’s Nov. 14 home finale against Texas is a day game, I will arch a Mr. Spock-like eyebrow over that decision. I’ve thought all along that between the Alabama and Texas games, one would be day and one would be night. On Nov. 14, the main competition for an SEC primetime slot is Missouri at Georgia and Florida at Kentucky.

We’ll know about that Monday.

As for LSU’s home record, the Tigers are 30-3 overall since 2022. In that time, they’re 2-2 in night games against ranked opponents and 1-1 in day games against ranked teams. Overall, LSU is 158-26 since 2000 at home and a solid 37-10 in day games during that span. So, hardly a death knell to the Tigers’ hopes of vanquishing the Crimson Tide.

Back to the basketball court, or just the courts, and Mr. Luis. This latest legal maneuver looks very much like a play for monetary gain since his NBA career was a no-go.

I stand by what I have said all along: Luis should not be allowed to play in college again. He gave up eligibility at St. John’s to turn professional and now he’s trying to maximize his current earning potential, such as it is. Unfortunately, LSU and men’s coach Will Wade decided to get caught up in his basketball net.

Luis’ attorney, Tony Clayton, told The Advocate on Wednesday that LSU “has nothing to do” with this latest legal maneuver. I doubt the SEC and its 15 other member schools will see it that way. That’s one big reason why the SEC’s federal lawsuit against LSU still exists.

I was going to write this week that it was time for the SEC to drop said suit against LSU. Now, I don’t see why it would or should. LSU has given no indication that it will roster Luis before his Nov. 13 preliminary injunction hearing — the Tigers open the season Tuesday against LSU New Orleans. But in legal terms, the possibility still remains.

So, the strained relationship between the SEC and LSU, one of its charter members, goes on. I also continue to think that the chance of the SEC kicking LSU out is slightly above zero, but folks in and around LSU are doing little at this point to bring the relationship between league and school back to normalcy.