The SEC, no stranger to attention, is once again the center of the college football world. Though not necessarily due to a dominant dynasty racking up championship after championship.
Lane Kiffin, also no stranger to attention, immediately invited controversy after taking over as head coach of the LSU Tigers by working to bring in former college players who have signed contracts to play in the NFL. The SEC and Big Ten immediately moved to ban pro players from playing, leading to a series of court battles to settle the issue.
While LSU ultimately prevailed, with a judge granting an injunction to let two players, Dae’quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, play this season, the SEC and other teams signaled their intention to fight back. Hard.
The conference cited Kiffin’s flippant, sarcastic comment before halftime during the game against Clemson in a new amended complaint: “Imagine if we had pro players.”
It was then widely reported that the conference’s other 15 schools would vote to kick the Tigers out at a meeting scheduled for Sept. 10.
A brief war of words ensued, resulting in the Tigers seemingly backing down by adding two non-pro players to the roster and filling out their final two spots.
Some commentators, like Stephen A. Smith, have defended LSU’s actions, while many opposing coaches have expressed a mixture of skepticism, bewilderment or anger over how Kiffin and the Tigers’ administration handled the situation.
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One of Kiffin’s rival SEC coaches, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, just added to it Thursday with a colorful explanation of the dynamic between the two opposing sides.
“This is a little bit like the son figuring out where the limits are until dad comes home and raises his voice, and then the son goes, ‘I was just kidding, I didn’t mean any of that,'” Elko said. “I think that’s what you’re seeing. LSU will be in the SEC…This is just a little bit of parenting going on right now.”
Mike Elko, never one to shy away from a great quote.
There’s some truth to that, and it’s evidenced not just by how the administration and Kiffin have handled this situation, but how the governor of Louisiana handled it too. After seemingly backing the Tigers, Gov. Jeff Landry issued a statement to Yahoo Sports! regarding the potential vote which said simply, “Ridiculous. Can we just play football?”
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Well, that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? Kiffin’s search for any advantage, no matter how minute, led the Tigers to push the boundaries of what other teams and, ultimately, fans find acceptable. For weeks, LSU backers proudly insisted they were right about bringing NFL players back to college football. As soon as the stakes were raised — for example, with the possibility of expulsion from the conference — the message became, “Can we just play football?”
The turn of phrase Elko used might be colorful, but it’s right. LSU was the upstart teenager, who got his bluff called by dad. Dad won out, and now the tone of the conversation has changed.
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LSU and Texas A&M play on Sept. 26 in Baton Rouge, without any NFL players on the field. There will be, however, a must-see postgame handshake between these two coaches.
