College Football’s Biggest Circus Descends on Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge was slated to be the center of the college football universe this weekend long before the lawsuit that turned college football upside down. 

The debut of controversial coach Lane Kiffin has drawn months of anticipation. But now, Death Valley is shaping up to be a bona fide Baton Rouge circus. 

The entire industry was watching to see whether Kiffin allows players who participated in NFL preseason—but who won an injunction Thursday night allowing them to play—to take the field against Clemson. Either way, the consequences could be dire. On one hand, LSU could face penalties due to the SEC’s new federal lawsuit against the Tigers, Kiffin, and other LSU officials. On the other, the court could punish LSU itself if it decides not to roster these players.

Late Friday night, LSU decided to leave two roster slots open. Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris—now enrolled at LSU after brief stints in NFL training camps this summer—are not on the roster for Saturday’s game, but could be added later in the season.

The game is expected to draw not just a record number of media members but also a sold-out crowd and, possibly, a web of politicians who have involved themselves in the drama.

“Now, we have the most credentialed game in the history of Tiger Stadium, for two teams that were 7–6 last year,” LSU head coach Lane Kiffin said on a media call Wednesday. “So I think that speaks volumes of the eyeballs on us and people wanting to be around the program and watch the program. I think all that is important.”

College Football’s Powder Keg

The anticipation began almost a year ago, when LSU abruptly fired Brian Kelly and replaced him with the controversial Kiffin—who made enemies at Ole Miss after leaving in the middle of the Rebels’ historic playoff run. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry wielded significant influence over the process.

But with all the offseason drama surrounding Kiffin, nothing compared to the events of the past two weeks. 

Judge William Jorden, of Louisiana’s 19th judicial district court in Baton Rouge, granted a group of players a fifth year of eligibility in a lawsuit challenging the implementation of the NCAA’s new “age-based” eligibility policy—including two players who had signed NFL contracts, Wright and Harris, whom LSU had scooped up. 

Amid shock and anger, all four power conferences (and others) implemented policies banning players who participated in NFL training camp and preseason. University officials at rival SEC schools considered harsh penalties, including kicking LSU out of the SEC altogether, sources confirmed to Front Office Sports. Multiple attorneys general weighed in, with Georgia AG Chris Carr going so far as to say he supported the SEC kicking LSU out of the conference.

But neither LSU nor the players backed down, with players’ attorneys adding the SEC to the original restraining order, and Kiffin allowing players to participate in team practice. 

It all came to a head Thursday during a nine-hour hearing in a Baton Rouge courthouse. 

Louisiana district attorneys represented parties on both sides; Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill herself attended the entire proceeding. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey testified for more than three hours, and he had to exit through side doors due to reported threats to his safety. Amid his testimony, the SEC filed a federal lawsuit against LSU and Kiffin—raising the stakes even more.

Judge Jorden granted the players their injunction around 8 p.m. local time, prohibiting the NCAA and SEC from enforcing player bans. Jorden’s order also enjoined LSU, meaning the school cannot take action against the players seeking to return to college and could force the university to roster the players.

The Game-Day Scene

The legal challenges will take a backseat Saturday, at least temporarily, as the city gears up for an unprecedented influx of media members, fans, and celebrities for the matchup against Clemson.  

LSU has issued more than 900 credentials for the game, more than any for a game in LSU’s history, the school told ESPN. That includes the traveling roadshow of ESPN College GameDay, which had announced it would attend the game long before the legal dustup. The press box alone is expected to be completely maxed out with more than 100 people—including scouts from 15 NFL teams, an LSU official told FOS. 

The stadium, which seats 102,000, will be bursting at the seams; the Tigers announced last week that the game was sold out. An SEC official will be at the game, but commissioner Sankey is not scheduled to be in attendance, FOS was told earlier this week (his absence is unrelated to the current legal drama). 

As for the politicians, it was unclear as of Friday morning who would be in attendance. Landry’s office has not responded to multiple requests for comment, but he’s made several comments supporting players and LSU, beginning with comments made to FOS last week: “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

The entire southern political machine will be watching as well. Friday morning, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said: “Anybody that has EVER played under the lights in Tigah stadium…KNOWS there is no such thing as a ‘fair forum’ or a ‘neutral decision maker’ anywhere near Baton Rouge.”

Kiffin, for his part, knows he needs to put on a show. “I do believe that nowadays, this is big business,” he said Wednesday. “We pay the players a lot. We’ve got big payrolls. … We need to bring a lot of money in. And so part of that, obviously, is winning.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney took a shot at Kiffin ahead of the matchup, adding more fuel to the fire. “Rarely am I at a loss for words. But I’m at, kind of, a loss of words. I would just say it’s kind of embarrassing. … I don’t blame the kids and people trying to take advantage of the system. I just think it’s embarrassing where we are with college football.”

He later added: “That outside stuff, we just kind of—no pun intended—we just stay in our ‘lane’ here at Clemson.”

But Swinney and his program won’t be at Clemson. They’ll be at the center of it all in Baton Rouge.