Embed

Banner carousel full

Unbiased news on the field and on the Hill.

Where sports and politics meet.

Football field at dusk with a state capitol dome behind it

Recent blog posts

Recent News

<p>No. 8 LSU hosts Louisiana Tech in a second straight Death Valley sellout — 6:30 CT on SEC Network+.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>By Rhett Landry</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>The SEC Zoom cooled Thursday. The lawsuit can wait for another filing. Friday was the preview. Today is the night. Louisiana Tech at No. 8 LSU, Tiger Stadium, 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+, purple encouraged, second sellout in two weeks. LSUSports.net locked the window at 6:32 with Clay Matvick, Rocky Boiman, and Laura Stickells on the call. LA Tech Athletics lists the same 6:30 CT kick on their game center. Wear the color. Get in the seat. The rest is noise.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Last Saturday the Tigers buried Clemson 51–10&nbsp; 644 yards of offense, 145 allowed, Sam Leavitt and Dilin Jones both over 100 on the ground, Winston Watkins Jr. at 110 receiving, Jordan Ross walking one back 30 yards. Three SEC weekly awards on three LSU debuts. That tape is public. Tech’s tape is public too: 806 over Northwestern State, Blake Baker for 232 and three scores, Jalen Mickens needing three catches for 133 and a touchdown. Kiffin already said scoring 80 means you’re doing something right, and he called their 3-3-5 “really unusual. Crescent City Sports and Tech’s own preview note it’s the first back-to-back LSU–Tech meetings since 1940–41. Last year’s 23–7 was the fewest points Tech has allowed LSU since 1913. Different LSU then. Different LSU now.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Kiffin’s challenge, on the record all week: last Saturday doesn’t buy tonight. Same prep. Same standard. Don’t let the opponent decide how you practice. He challenged the crowd the same way — electric for Clemson, bring it again. Sonny Cumbie’s bunch is 1-0 and driving into Death Valley for an in-state night that matters in Ruston whether the national graphic cares or not. Treat it like a shrug and they will make the evening longer than anybody in purple wants. Treat it like Clemson and the place sounds like what the ticket stub promised.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Elsewhere on the board, No. 1 Ohio State is at No. 4 Texas tonight in Austin — third straight year these two meet, ABC window, the game half the country will argue about at breakfast. Fine. Watch it if you want. In Baton Rouge the only ranking on the jersey is No. 8, and the only visitor that counts is Louisiana Tech. Ole Miss is Sep 19. Oxford already talked loud after beating Louisville. First you have to clear Saturday without looking past it.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Death Valley sold out again. Kick is tonight. Make it sound like one.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Related:</p><p>- Death Valley sold out again: <a href="https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/death-valley-sold-out-again-tech-gets-the-hangover-test">https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/death-valley-sold-out-again-tech-gets-the-hangover-test</a></p><p>- No. 8 LSU / Ole Miss / Tech Saturday: https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/no-8-lsu-no-9-ole-miss-tech-is-still-saturday</p>

It’s Saturday. Purple night. The hangover talk ends at kickoff.

<p>Trump’s midterm convention was a loyalty test. Texas is the competence test.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>By Camille Reid</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Dallas spent two nights proving the MAGA room still works. That was never the hard part. The hard part is November, when the ballot does not say Trump and half the country is tired of being told the midterms are a personality referendum.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Republicans wrapped their first midterm convention this week betting the president can pull base turnout while inflation and a foreign war sit on the kitchen table. Reuters and The Hill both clocked the gamble: some House and Senate candidates in competitive seats skipped the show rather than weld their races to a president whose job numbers are underwater. Decision Desk HQ’s Friday read gave Democrats a 68 percent chance at the House and called the Senate a coin flip. Trump’s approval in that same DDHQ average was roughly 40 percent, with 57 percent disapproving. Fresh CPI held at 3.4 percent. That is not a vibe. That is the math candidates have to carry.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Then came the shiny object. Trump pledged a $5,000 “dividend” to adult citizens if Republicans keep Congress — a line The Hill flagged as the convention’s biggest news and an instant argument about whether it is policy or a campaign flyer with a dollar sign. Culture loves the spectacle. Competence asks whether you can explain how it is paid for without treating voters like extras in a rally tape.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Texas makes the national problem local. An AARP poll of likely Texas voters put Democrat James Talarico at 48 percent and Attorney General Ken Paxton at 44 — within the margin, and with Paxton still stronger among voters 50 and older. The Texas Tribune reported Senate Leadership Fund finally jumping in with a major ad buy after sitting out the summer, while Trump’s operation and other big spenders scrambled to catch up. At the Dallas stage, Trump endorsed the race and still mocked Paxtons look and delivery, per KERA and AP. Abbott, Patrick, and Cruz did not even say his name in their convention speeches, according to KERA. That is not “energy.” That is a party asking Texas to save the Senate while treating its nominee like a punchline between fundraisers.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>I am not asking Republicans to stop loving Trump. I am asking them to stop confusing a Dallas roar with a governing argument. Midterms punish parties that cannot separate loyalty from persuasion. If the pitch is “treat November as a referendum on me,” Democrats will take that gift and run. If the pitch is competence — prices, freight, borders, and a Senate map that does not assume Texas is automatic — say that in English to people who did not buy a convention ticket.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>The Hill story this morning is not whether the room in Dallas clapped. It clapped. The story is whether anyone walking a swing district, or a Texas Senate race that suddenly looks real, can give voters a reason that survives the parking lot.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Related:</p><p>- Missouri’s map mess: <a href="https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/missouris-map-mess-two-courts-one-midterm-zero-clarity">https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/missouris-map-mess-two-courts-one-midterm-zero-clarity</a></p><p>- Mail ballots and the Court: https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/mail-ballots-and-the-court</p>

Dallas Cheered. Swing Seats Still Need a Reason.

<p>Death Valley sold out again. Tech gets the hangover test.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>No. 8 LSU hosts Louisiana Tech Saturday night after the SEC cooled off — Kiffin wants Clemson energy, not a Week 2 shrug.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>By Rhett Landry</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Thursday night the SEC presidents got on a Zoom, talked about “expectations and responsibilities,” and hung up without a sanction, without an expulsion vote, without anything that would keep Saturday from happening. Field Level Media / Reuters had it: the meeting ended, the statement was soft, and the football calendar stayed intact. Wade Rousse already told Greg Sankey the Wright–Harris roster fight was “moot.” Aidan Anding and Gabriel Reliford filled the last two spots. The 105 is locked. The lawsuit noise can wait for another filing. Tiger Stadium does not.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Saturday is Louisiana Tech at No. 8 LSU, 6:32 p.m. CT on SEC Network+, second straight sellout, purple night. LSUSports.net posted the home notes Friday. Last Saturday the Tigers dropped Clemson 51–10 with 644 yards of offense and 145 allowed. Sam Leavitt: 16-of-28 for 230, one passing touchdown, 113 rushing yards and two more scores. Dilin Jones matched him with 113 and two on the ground. Winston Watkins Jr. had seven for 110 and a score. Jordan Ross took one 30 yards the other way. The league stuck Offensive Player, Offensive Lineman, and Defensive Lineman of the Week stickers on three LSU debuts — Leavitt, Jordan Seaton, Ross. That’s the tape Tech has to live with.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Kiffin’s Monday message, per LSUSports and the AP wire: last week is over. Same prep. Same standard. Don’t let the opponent dictate how you practice. He even challenged the crowd — electric for Clemson, bring it again for the in-state game. He also tipped his hat at Ruston. Tech put up 80–6 on Northwestern State. Blake Baker threw for 232 and three scores. Jalen Mickens needed three catches for 133 and a touchdown. Kiffin called the Bulldogs’ 3-3-5 “really unusual,” said you rewrite a lot of rules to play it, and said scoring 80 means you’re doing something right on offense no matter who lined up across from you. Crescent City Sports notes its the first back-to-back LSU–Tech meetings since 1940–41. Last year’s 23–7 in Death Valley was the fewest points Tech has allowed LSU since 1913. That version of LSU is gone. This one just chewed up a Power program in purple.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>National board noise still matters for the reader who watches more than one TV. No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas is Saturday’s headline elsewhere. Missouri at Kansas is tonight’s Border War warm-up. Fine. Enjoy it. In Baton Rouge the only ranking that counts this week is No. 8 on the chest and a Ruston team that just hung 80 and thinks it earned a night under the lights. Ole Miss is Sep 19. Oxford already talked. Tech is the gate.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Wear purple. Show up loud. If LSU treats this like a hangover, Sonny Cumbie’s bunch will make the night longer than the scoreboard wants. If LSU treats it like Clemson, Death Valley gets what it paid for — another sellout that sounds like one.</p>

Death Valley sold out again. Tech gets the hangover test.

<p>Say the names. Keep the silence. Do not look away.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>By Everett Kane</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Twenty-five years ago this morning, nineteen men turned four airliners into weapons. The North Tower was struck at 8:46. The South Tower at 9:03. The Pentagon at 9:37. United Airlines Flight 93 went into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03, after passengers and crew fought back. Both towers fell. Nearly three thousand people were murdered that day — office workers, firefighters, passengers, soldiers, a child on a plane.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>At the National September 11 Memorial in lower Manhattan, families will read aloud 2,983 names: those killed on September 11, 2001, and in the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center. Six moments of silence mark the strikes, the collapses, the Pentagon, and Flight 93. This year, for the first time on the anniversary plaza, a seventh silence follows the reading — for first responders, recovery workers, and neighbors who later died from 9/11-related illness. The Memorial made that tribute permanent.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>That is not politics. It is a ledger.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Remember what was done. Remember who did it. Remember the people who ran toward the fire and the people who never came home. A country that forgets invites a rematch. A country that softens the names into a mood piece has already started losing.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Stand still for the bells. Then live like the dead were owed more than a hashtag.</p>

Twenty-five years

<p>The expulsion vote cooled overnight. Tech did not.</p><p><br></p><p>Rousse called it moot. Sankey’s Thursday Zoom still happens. Saturday is still Death Valley.</p><p><br></p><p>By Rhett Landry</p><p><br></p><p>The Southeastern Conference is no longer expected to vote on kicking LSU out of the league on Thursday, an Associated Press source told Brett Martel on Wednesday night. The presidents and chancellors still meet by Zoom this afternoon. The nuclear item is not expected to be on the table the way Tuesday’s filing made it sound. Sports Business Journal had the same de-escalation: vote suspended, temperature down, meeting still on.</p><p><br></p><p>That is not peace. That is a pause with a paper trail.</p><p><br></p><p>LSU President Wade Rousse sent Sankey a one-page letter the AP obtained. The spine of it is blunt: “The roster is now locked for the season. LSU complied with SEC rules. This issue is moot.” He wrote that he called Sankey last Friday afternoon to say DaeQuan Wright and Zxavian Harris would not be on the roster, that the school filled the last two spots Tuesday night with eligible guys, and that LSU will not challenge, disrupt, or try to cancel Thursday’s meeting. AL.com carried the same letter language. Under the threat, Baton Rouge chose the lock. Wright and Harris stay out. Anding and Reliford got the chairs. The Reveille already framed that as survival over the lawsuit names.</p><p><br></p><p>Sankey’s conference has not kissed and made up. The AP piece still has him on the record from the amended complaint era: consensus among leaders that LSU’s continued membership would be “inconsistent with the publicly stated values and principles” of the league even if the former pros never dress, plus the institutional-control shot at Rousse, Verge Ausberry, and how much leash Kiffin has. SBJ noted the league could still hunt a penalty for the chase of those players. So Thursday’s Zoom is not a pep rally. It is a room that almost voted on ending a founding membership and is now deciding how loud the leftover anger gets to be.</p><p><br></p><p>None of that cancels Saturday. No. 8 LSU hosts Louisiana Tech at 6:30 p.m. CT in Tiger Stadium on SEC Network+. Kiffin already told the Monday desk everything’s got to be the same as the Clemson night. Tech scored 80. Oxford is still Sept. 19. Wear purple. Watch the Zoom if you must. Then fill the bowl like the program that just jumped to No. 8 still has to beat the Bulldogs before it gets to be mad at Mississippi.</p>

The expulsion vote cooled overnight. Tech did not.

<p>Midterms are weeks away. The justices are the ones still working.</p><p><br></p><p>By Everett Kane</p><p><br></p><p>Congress is mostly gone. Pro forma sessions. A stopgap signed through Dec. 11. The House cut its September calendar short and heads for the campaign trail when it comes back the week of the 14th. That is how a majority spends the weeks before a midterm: clear the shutdown risk, then leave town.</p><p><br></p><p>The real fight is at the Supreme Court.</p><p><br></p><p>The Trump administration asked the justices to pause a Boston federal judge’s order that blocks parts of a U.S. Postal Service rule on mail-in-ballots. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Court the order undercuts efforts to stop the mails from being used for voter fraud — fraud that dilutes lawful votes and hollows out public confidence. California, joined by more than twenty states and the District of Columbia, urged the Court to leave the injunction in place. They warn some states cannot comply before November and that millions of mail voters could be stranded.</p><p><br></p><p>That is the choice. Integrity rules that arrive late, or a system that shrugs and hopes the envelopes hold.</p><p><br></p><p>A second track landed this week. The administration asked the Court to clear use of a revamped Homeland Security SAVE database so states can check citizenship on voter rolls. A D.C. judge had blocked the current version. Sauer called that order a threat to election integrity with the midterms too close for a delayed fix.</p><p><br></p><p>States run elections. That is the Constitution. It is not a license for sloppy rolls, anonymous ballots, or a Postal Service that invents process mid-cycle without the country watching. If the rule is lawful, let it run. If it is not, kill it clean. Do not leave fifty secretaries of state guessing in October.</p><p><br></p><p>November 3 is not a seminar. It is a national decision. The Court should say what the law allows before the first wave of ballots is already in the mail. Delay is its own verdict.</p><p><br></p><p>Related articles</p><p>Missouri’s Map Mess: Two Courts, One Midterm, Zero Clarity — <a href="https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/missouris-map-mess-two-courts-one-midterm-zero-clarity" data-mce-href="https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/missouris-map-mess-two-courts-one-midterm-zero-clarity">https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/missouris-map-mess-two-courts-one-midterm-zero-clarity</a></p><p>Brent cleared $100. WTI settled $96. — h<a data-mce-href="https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/brent-cleared-100-wti-settled-96" href="https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/brent-cleared-100-wti-settled-96" data-mce-selected="inline-boundary">ttps://capitolandcleats.com/blog/brent-cleared-100-wti-settled-96</a></p><figure id="figure-s66qf51jkmtvjo5d6"><img id="s66qf51jkmtvjo5d6" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2cmM8Qrb1IFHvjwZV1SQrhmCK7eIZ2ub5ZR00yKYaTKqTuWcEO5wOdxycm7VC6Sy.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2cmM8Qrb1IFHvjwZV1SQrhmCK7eIZ2ub5ZR00yKYaTKqTuWcEO5wOdxycm7VC6Sy.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>

Mail ballots and the Court

<p>In 328 BCE, at a drinking party in what is now Samarkand, Alexander killed Cleitus the Black — then made the army call the dead man a traitor.</p><p><br></p><p>By Jonah Hale</p><p><br></p><p>The battles get the marble. Granicus, Issus, Gaugamela, Hydaspes. What happened at Maracanda, the old Sogdian city the Greeks called by that name and we call Samarkand, gets a quieter line in the histories — and it may tell you more about the king than any river crossing.</p><p><br></p><p>In 328 BCE Alexander was still mopping up the eastern Iranian lands. Cleitus, called the Black, was not a court ornament. After the destruction of Parmenio’s house, Alexander had split the Companion cavalry. One half went to Hephaestion. The other went to Cleitus, an older Macedonian of the old guard. Britannica records him among Alexander’s most-trusted commanders. Ancient writers also place him at the Granicus years earlier, in the melee that nearly killed the young king.</p><p><br></p><p>That summer, at Maracanda, the trust ended in a cup.</p><p><br></p><p>The sources — principally Arrian and Plutarch — agree on the shape if not every insult. There was a banquet, heavy with wine. Praise of Alexander slid into slight of Philip. Persian manners sat badly with men who still thought in Macedonian ranks. Cleitus spoke for the veterans. Tempers rose. Friends held Alexander back; Cleitus was pushed from the room. He came back. Alexander got free, took a spear, and killed him.</p><p><br></p><p>Then the remorse — so loud, the army’s remedy was stranger than the crime. Britannica notes Alexander’s “excessive display of remorse,” after which the army passed a decree convicting Cleitus posthumously of treason. The dead man was made the guilty party so the living king could go on being king.</p><p><br></p><p>It was not a battlefield decision. It was absolutism practiced with a spear and cleaned up with a vote. Shortly afterward Alexander pressed Persian royal dress and, at Bactra, the court ritual of prostration. The Macedonians laughed that experiment down. Callisthenes, who would not bow, did not long outlive the fashion.</p><p><br></p><p>The empire still had India ahead of it, and a mutiny at the Hyphasis, and a fever in Babylon. But Maracanda is where the breach between Alexander and many of his own shows in a single night: the man who shared the Companion command dead on the floor, the army rewriting the story so the king could sleep.</p>

The Spear at Maracanda

<p>Brent cleared $100. WTI settled $96.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>ICE Brent settled at $101.21 a barrel Wednesday, up 3.4%, after touching $101.58. NYMEX WTI settled at $96.05. First Brent settle above $100 since July.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>By Victor Lin</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>The move is ships, not speeches. The U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian tankers after Iran tried ballistic missiles on a U.S. Navy warship. Iranian media said Tehran hit two U.S. warships and eight oil tankers in the Persian Gulf; that second claim had no immediate confirmation in the same Bloomberg write-up. Houthis hit Saudi energy facilities. Hormuz is the choke. The tape priced it.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Newsquawk had the same settles — WTI up $3.02 to $96.05, Brent up $3.29 to $101.21 — with session highs at $96.82 and $101.58. DTN’s Barani Krishnan matched those closes. Seventh straight up day for New York crude in other market recaps of the same session.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>The government map moved the same day. EIAs Short-Term Energy Outlook, reported by Reuters, raised 2026 Brent to about $91 a barrel average, nearly 5% above the prior forecast, and WTI to $84.65. Global inventories are down about 400 million barrels year to date and still falling, EIA said. Middle East shut-ins hit 6.7 million barrels a day in August, from 5 million in July, and average about 5.7 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter in that outlook. Pre-conflict output and exports do not fully return until the second quarter of 2027 in EIA’s path. The STEO was finalized Sept. 3 — before this week’s shipping strikes — so Wednesdays $101 Brent settle is already above the annual average the agency just printed.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>TD Securities’ Ryan McKay, in the World Oil piece, said dark flows eased the crude deficit some, but “the market remains tight overall.” Vortexa had oil on water down more than 150 million barrels since mid-July. EIA’s STEO also lifted fourth-quarter U.S. retail diesel to $5.55 a gallon, up 14% in that revision, with diesel stocks heading for a multi-decade low.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>My take: $96 WTI and $101 Brent are a Hormuz shipping print with an inventory underwrite. The annual STEO averages ($91 Brent, $84.65 WTI) are not the Wednesday screen. If tanker attacks keep stacking, the settle can hold a three-handle premium to the government year average. If dark crossings and workarounds scale without new hits, the crack between the STEO path and the cash close is the trade. Watch the ships and the next weekly stocks.</p>

Brent cleared $100. WTI settled $96.

<p>Thursday the SEC votes on LSU. The roster is already closed.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>By Rhett Landry</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Baton Rouge filled the last two chairs on Tuesday night, and it was not with the names the lawsuit was built around. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported LSU added cornerback Aidan Anding and defensive end Gabriel Reliford — both returning Tigers who’d been off the 105 — and that move locked the roster. Former Ole Miss / undrafted NFL rookies Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris are out of the picture for now. The Reveille put it flat on Wednesday: under the threat of expulsion, LSU filled without the former pros.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>That is the concession. It is not the end of the fight.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>The Southeastern Conference amended its federal lawsuit in Alabama on Tuesday and put a Thursday meeting on the calendar for presidents and chancellors to decide whether to terminate LSU’s membership. Reuters, ESPN, and Yahoo Sports all have the same spine: plenary power in the bylaws, a two-thirds threshold — 11 of 16 — and a temporary restraining order ask so LSU can’t block the room. The league’s own statement Tuesday morning said membership means a commitment to the rules the schools already agreed to. Sankey’s conference is suing a founding member that has worn purple since the SEC was a young idea. That sentence alone should make every Tiger fan sit up.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Kiffin already told GameDay the Clemson call — Wright and Harris not on the card for the 51-10 opener — was about the big picture of the program. He said postgame he believed they were fighting for what was right for those kids. Tuesday nights roster close is the school choosing survival over the fight in real time. Attorney Ryan Downton told ESPN his clients are weighing legal options. A Louisiana judge had already cleared a path with an injunction for the fifth-year group. None of that stopped the SEC from putting expulsion on the Thursday agenda anyway. Yahoo noted the vote could still land even after LSU renounced the pro-player path. Forced association, the filing argues. Institutional control, the filing argues. Plenary power does not need a soft landing.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Saturday is still Louisiana Tech in Tiger Stadium — 6:30 p.m. CT, SEC Network+ — and the No. 8 ranking that dropped earlier this week does not get a bye because Birmingham has a special meeting. Beat the Bulldogs. Stay 2-0. Oxford on Sept. 19 does not care how many lawyers are in the room on Thursday. If the presidents somehow go nuclear and the decision bites immediately, Yahoo floated the ugly hypothetical: Magnolia Bowl turns into a non-conference game. That is not a prediction. That is how loud this has gotten.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>Wear purple. Watch Thursday. Then show up Saturday like the conference still belongs to the people who fill Death Valley, because until somebody prints a termination letter, it does.</p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p><a href="https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/oxford-already-called-itself-ready-nashville-just-made-the-sep-19-noise-louder">https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/oxford-already-called-itself-ready-nashville-just-made-the-sep-19-noise-louder</a></p><p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></p><p>https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/kiffin-wants-saturday-to-feel-like-saturday-again</p>

Thursday the SEC votes on LSU. The roster is already closed.

<style>
.cac-lines{font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;background:#111418;color:#e8e4dc;padding:28px 20px 36px;max-width:920px;margin:0 auto;line-height:1.45}
.cac-lines *{box-sizing:border-box}
.cac-lines h2{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;letter-spacing:.12em;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;color:#d4af37;margin:0 0 6px;border:0}
.cac-lines h3{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;letter-spacing:.16em;font-size:11px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;color:#9aa3ad;margin:28px 0 12px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:1px solid #2a3038}
.cac-lines .cac-kicker{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;color:#8b939c;margin:0 0 22px}
.cac-card{background:#1a1f26;border:1px solid #2c333c;border-radius:6px;padding:16px 18px;margin:0 0 12px}
.cac-card header{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;justify-content:space-between;gap:8px 16px;align-items:baseline;margin-bottom:8px}
.cac-card .cac-match{font-size:18px;font-weight:700;color:#f3efe6;margin:0}
.cac-card .cac-line{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-weight:700;color:#d4af37;white-space:nowrap}
.cac-meta{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;color:#8b939c;margin:0 0 10px}
.cac-chat{font-size:15px;margin:0;color:#d5d0c6}
.cac-chat a{color:#c9b36a;text-decoration:underline}
.cac-cite{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:11px;color:#6e767f;margin:18px 0 0;line-height:1.5}
.cac-cite a{color:#8a8070}
.cc-lines{font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;background:#111418;color:#e8e4dc;padding:28px 20px 36px;max-width:920px;margin:0 auto;line-height:1.45}
.cc-lines *{box-sizing:border-box}
.cc-lines h2{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;letter-spacing:.12em;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;color:#d4af37;margin:0 0 6px;border:0}
.cc-lines h3{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;letter-spacing:.16em;font-size:11px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;color:#9aa3ad;margin:28px 0 12px;padding-bottom:8px;border-bottom:1px solid #2a3038}
.cc-lines .sub,.cc-lines .note{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;color:#8b939c;margin:0 0 22px}
.cc-lines .note{margin:18px 0 0;line-height:1.5}
.cc-lines .row{display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;justify-content:space-between;gap:8px 16px;align-items:baseline;background:#1a1f26;border:1px solid #2c333c;border-radius:6px;padding:14px 16px;margin:0 0 10px}
.cc-lines .g{font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#f3efe6}
.cc-lines .g a{color:#f3efe6;text-decoration:none}
.cc-lines .g a:hover{color:#e2c789}
.cc-lines .m{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px;color:#8b939c;margin-top:4px}
.cc-lines .l{font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-weight:700;color:#d4af37;white-space:nowrap}
</style>
<section class="cc-lines" id="this-weeks-lines">
  <h2>This Week’s Lines</h2>
  <p class="sub">Sat Sep 12, 2026 · DraftKings via ESPN  Lines move · 21+</p>
  <h3>College Football — Week 2</h3>
  <div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401867796" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Louisiana Tech at No. 8 LSU</a></div><div class="m">Sat Sep 12, 5:30 p.m. MT · SECN+</div></div><div class="l">LSU -35.5 / O/U 55.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856682" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas</a></div><div class="m">Sat Sep 12, 5:30 p.m. MT · ABC</div></div><div class="l">TEX -1.5 / O/U 49.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856679" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No. 11 Oklahoma at Michigan</a></div><div class="m">Sat Sep 12, 10:00 a.m. MT · FOX</div></div><div class="l">OU -5.5 / O/U 43.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856674" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No. 12 Alabama at Kentucky</a></div><div class="m">Sat Sep 12, 1:30 p.m. MT  ABC</div></div><div class="l">ALA -10 / O/U 48.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856681" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No. 18 Tennessee at Georgia Tech</a></div><div class="m">Sat Sep 12, 5:00 p.m. MT · ESPN</div></div><div class="l">TENN -11.5 / O/U 55.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401856678" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No. 23 Missouri at Kansas</a></div><div class="m">Fri Sep 11 · FINAL</div></div><div class="l">FINAL MIZ 38, KU 21</div></div>
  <h3>NFL — Week 1</h3>
  <div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401872660" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buffalo at Houston</a></div><div class="m">Sun Sep 13, 11:00 a.m. MT · CBS</div></div><div class="l">BUF -1.5 / O/U 44.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401872930" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dallas at N.Y. Giants</a></div><div class="m">Sun Sep 13, 6:20 p.m. MT · NBC</div></div><div class="l">DAL -3 / O/U 48.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401872924" target="_blank" rel="noopener">N.Y. Jets at Tennessee</a></div><div class="m">Sun Sep 13, 11:00 a.m. MT · CBS</div></div><div class="l">TEN -1.5 / O/U 38.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401872927" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Green Bay at Minnesota</a></div><div class="m">Sun Sep 13, 2:25 p.m. MT · CBS</div></div><div class="l">MIN -1.5 / O/U 46.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401872661" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago at Carolina</a></div><div class="m">Sun Sep 13, 11:00 a.m. MT · FOX</div></div><div class="l">CHI -3 / O/U 47.5</div></div>
<div class="row"><div><div class="g"><a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401872931" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Denver at Kansas City</a></div><div class="m">Mon Sep 14, 6:15 p.m. MT  ABC/ESPN</div></div><div class="l">KC -2.5 / O/U 43.5</div></div>
  <p class="note">LSU / Texans / Cowboys always on the board. Closest NFL: TEN, MIN, KC, CHI. MIZ@KU final off live line. Source: DraftKings via ESPN. Never invent.</p>
</section>

Call to action

Unbiased news on the field and on the Hill. Sports and Capitol coverage from Trinity, Texas.

News of USA, press and  journalism concept. Microphone and newspaper on the map in colors of the flag of USA.

Capitol and Cleats News

Where sports and politics meet.

Recent News

It’s Saturday. Purple night. The hangover talk ends at ki...

Dallas Cheered. Swing Seats Still Need a Reason.

Death Valley sold out again. Tech gets the hangover test.

Twenty-five years

The expulsion vote cooled overnight. Tech did not.

Mail ballots and the Court

The Spear at Maracanda

Brent cleared $100. WTI settled $96.

Thursday the SEC votes on LSU. The roster is already closed.

This Week’s Lines

College Football — Week 2

NFL — Week 1

Where sports and politics meet.