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LSU To Be Ousted From SEC?
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Welcome to college football in 2026.
On Saturday night, LSU looked like one of the best teams in America, dismantling Clemson 51-10 in Lane Kiffin’s debut.
By Tuesday, the Tigers had climbed to No. 8 in the AP poll. And on that same day, the Southeastern Conference was preparing for a meeting that could potentially result in LSU being kicked out of the league. You can’t make this stuff up.
The dispute centers around Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, two former Ole Miss players who signed NFL contracts and spent time with professional teams this summer before attempting to return to college football at LSU.
The SEC says they shouldn’t be eligible. A Louisiana judge has ruled, at least temporarily, that they can play. LSU didn’t use either player against Clemson, but the fight has continued anyway.
And naturally, Lane Kiffin couldn’t resist having a little fun with it.
With LSU leading Clemson 31-3 at halftime Saturday, Kiffin joked during his television interview, “Imagine if we had pro players.”
I’m guessing SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey didn’t find that nearly as funny as Kiffin did.
Now the situation has escalated to the point where SEC presidents and chancellors are scheduled to meet and potentially consider LSU’s future in the conference.
We’re talking about LSU here. A founding member of the SEC. One of the biggest brands in college football; Tiger Stadium, national championships and generations of SEC history.
Personally, I think kicking LSU out would be a massive overreaction. But I also understand the SEC’s position.
A conference has to be able to make rules and expect its members to follow them. If the schools agree on an eligibility rule and one member can simply go to court and have that rule blocked, how does the conference govern itself?
But that’s also why this story is about much more than LSU. College football has changed almost everything about itself in a remarkably short period of time without developing a system capable of governing what it has become.
NIL changed the financial landscape. The transfer portal changed roster building. Revenue sharing changed the relationship between players and schools. Eligibility rules continue to be challenged in court.
And every time the NCAA or a conference tries to draw a line, someone seems ready to file another lawsuit.
So, who’s actually in charge of college football? The NCAA? The conferences? The schools? The courts? I’m not sure anybody knows anymore.
I don’t blame the players for taking advantage of every opportunity available to them. I don’t necessarily blame LSU for challenging a rule it believes is wrong. And I certainly don’t blame the SEC for believing membership in its conference should require following conference rules.
But college football desperately needs some consistency. That’s the bigger story here.
The crazy part is that LSU might actually be really good. The Tigers just embarrassed Clemson and suddenly look like a legitimate playoff contender.
Yet only a few days later, we’re barely talking about football.
Instead, we’re wondering whether one of the SEC’s founding members could actually be thrown out of the conference.
That’s college football in 2026. LSU may be ready to compete for an SEC championship.
First, apparently, the Tigers have to make sure they’re still in the SEC.
Clemson Tigers: A Declining Program
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The college football season has officially kicked off. I want to discuss Clemson’s head coach, Dabo Swinney. He’s had a lot of success at Clemson but the current era of college football seems to have passed him by.
Clemson traveled to Baton Rouge to face #11 LSU recently. After that performance, LSU looks like the best team in the country. They beat up on the other Tigers, 51-10. This was Clemson’s worst loss since falling 41-0 to Syracuse in the 1996 Gator Bowl
“The best thing about that game is it’s over,” Dabo Swinney said. “Just really poor performance, not what we worked for or expected.”
They played in front of a sellout crowd of 102,000 at Tiger Stadium. The game was delayed almost two hours due to a weather delay.
Clemson did tie the game 3-3 in the first quarter. They briefly looked like they had a chance. LSU finished with 644 yards of offense. Clemson finished with 145 yards.
That led to LSU head coach Lane Kiffin taking shots at Clemson. “I didn’t expect their offense to be that dysfunctional,” Kiffin said after the game. “Our [scout] team scored more than they did against us.”
“We got our asses kicked,” Swinney said. “We gotta go win next week. It’s an embarrassing performance, coaching and playing. We’re going to have to own that. We can’t let that lead to another loss.”
LSU rushed for 309 yards. RB Dilin Jones, who transferred from Wisconsin, rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Arizona State transfer QB, Sam Leavitt, rushed for 113 yards and two scores. He also passed for 230 yards and a TD.
“You’re not going to win if you can’t stop the run,” Swinney added. “We just did a really poor job of setting the edge, especially versus the quarterback run, which really killed us.”
The Tigers (Clemson) struggled so much on offense they pulled starting QB Christopher Vizzina out of the game for freshman Tait Reynolds late in the second quarter.
“The start of the game was great for us, but we couldn’t truly capitalize on it,” Vizzina said, referring to his offense’s stumbles. “We’re not helping our defense at all.”
I have to start with the good things Swinney has done. He took over as the interim head coach in 2008. Since then, he’s gone 187-55, which includes two national championships in 2016 and 2018. He turned the Tigers into an elite program.
He’s competing against what he’s previously done. In the new era of college football, which includes NIL and the transfer portal, he’s been slow to adapt. He went several years without having a player transfer to Clemson.
He’s been adamant that he only wants to build his team through high school recruiting. That blueprint worked about 8-10 years ago.
They have been on a steady decline. After 12 consecutive seasons with double digit wins, they were 9-4 in 2023. They did bounce back in 2024, going 10-4 and making the College Football Playoff.
That season started with a 34-3 loss to #1 Georgia. That showed the talent gap between the Tigers and an elite program. #5 Texas beat them in the CFP 38-24 and the final score makes the game seem closer than what it was.
Last season the Tigers started the season ranked #4 in the AP poll. They returned senior QB Cade Klubnik and several starters from the previous year. They went 7-6, with one of the losses in the Pinstripe Bowl to Penn State.
The next game is against Georgia Southern. I think this will be another long season.
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Mercer Bears 2026 Preview
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
There is one overlooked FCS football program in the state of Georgia.
Mercer reinstated their football program in 2013 after a 72-year hiatus. The Bears have been pretty successful since returning.
They won the Southern Conference championship the last two seasons.
In 2024 they finished 10-2, with one of those losses at #10 Alabama. The Bears were ranked #8 and they won their first-round playoff game against #10 Rhode Island.
The following week they were beaten by powerhouse, #3 North Dakota State. Of course, NDSU went on to win another FCS national championship that season.
Last season they finished 9-3. One of the losses was at Auburn, which is expected. They were ranked #7 and hosted a playoff game against #11 South Dakota. They were beaten 47-0.
They are looking to build on that momentum and win the SoCon again.
This season they are led by 6’4, 210 lbs. senior QB, Jaylen King. He’s from Folkston, GA and he attended Charlton County High. He’s attended a different college every season. He started at Gardner-Webb, then transferred to East Tennessee State and Florida State.
He redshirted last year at FSU and played in one game. As a sophomore at ETSU in 2024, he started 10 games. King threw for 1,536 yards and 9 touchdowns on 116-for-221 (.525) passing with 11 interceptions. He also carried the ball 105 times for 422 yards and five additional scores. As you can see, he’s a dual threat quarterback.
Senior WR Brayden Smith is a Macon native. He’s attended Mercer all four years, which is rare in the transfer portal era of college football.
He’s been named the Southern Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. He’s also one of 30 players named to the Walter Payton Award watch list.
In 2025, Smith accounted for 1,267 all-purpose yards, leading the team in return yards and finishing second in receiving yards (712 yards). He had seven games where he accounted for more than 100 yards.
The coaches also picked the Bears to win the SoCon. They received six first place votes from the ten head coaches.
They also have a few more players that were named to the 2026 Preseason All-Southern Conference First Team. They are OL Brody Balliew, OL Tyler Murray, DL Kobe McInnis and LB Jyarius Carter.
Mercer started the season ranked #21. Week 0 for FBS is the opening weekend for FCS. The Bears played East Texas A&M on ESPN. They won the game, 23-15. They had a 23-0 lead going into halftime and held on to win.
King threw a 12-yard touchdown to TE Jackson Kostmayer. Senior CB Cameron Goggins returned an interception 38 yards for a pick-6. Sophomore K Simon Zeidan made 3-of-4 field goal attempts. After the win Mercer has moved up to #19.
King passed for 177 yards and a touchdown, completing 53.6% of his passes. Smith had 9 receptions for 131 yards. RB Zahmari Palode-Gary had 8 carries for 87 yards.
The remaining schedule is:
9/5 vs Presbyterian*
9/12 vs Furman
9/19 @ Georgia Tech*
9/26 @ #20 Abilene Christian*
10/3 @ VMI
10/10 vs # 24 Western Carolina
10/17 @ Samford
10/31 vs The Citadel
11/7 @ Chattanooga
11/14 @ #12 Tennessee Tech
11/21 vs East Tennessee State
Non-conference games are indicated with an asterisk.
I think the best-case scenario for Mercer is finishing 10-2. One of those losses will be against Georgia Tech since they are a power conference FBS team. The schedule is pretty tough in addition to that, with three ranked opponents.
I think the more likely outcome is eight, maybe nine wins.
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