A Dallas Judge Put the SEC on Ice. Baton Rouge Gets the Ball Thursday.

Dek: Texas and Louisiana courts have blocked the SEC’s ban on former NFL players heading back to campus — and Lane Kiffin’s LSU opener against Clemson is four days away.

College football used to settle roster fights in the portal. This week it is settling them in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

On Thursday, Aug. 27, Dallas County Judge Martin Hoffman signed a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, the SEC, and commissioner Greg Sankey. The Associated Press reported it covers more than 40 players seeking another season. Hoffman wrote that as long as those athletes “would have been eligible to continue playing college sports in the following semester if they had a fifth year of eligibility, they are eligible today.” Two of the named plaintiffs, AP noted, are former SMU receiver Jordon Hudson of the Cowboys and former Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe of the Chiefs. Neither played in the SEC. The order told the NCAA to open the transfer portal for a week.

A day later, Judge William Jorden of Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge amended his own restraining order, adding the SEC and Sankey. That is the case sitting on the calendar this Thursday morning, Sept. 3 — two days before No. 11 LSU hosts Clemson.

This is not a vibes story. The SEC, with the Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12, passed conference rules this month to stop players who signed pro contracts, hit a pro roster, or declared for a draft without withdrawing from coming back. CBS Sports reported the SEC’s presidents and chancellors voted 15-0, with LSU abstaining. The stick: a half-season suspension for a coach, a fine equal to 50 percent of that sport’s operating budget, and revoked voting rights. The dollar figure behind that 50 percent has not been disclosed. The intent was.

N.C. State coach Dave Doeren told the AP the cutoff, to him, is simple: when a guy goes pro, “we say ‘Goodbye, good luck,’ and we move on. And there shouldn’t be the ability to come back.” That is the conference argument in a sentence. Voluntary associations get to set the terms of membership. If every Power Four league draws the same line, the two-way street from the NFL back to Saturdays closes.

LSU is the test case, and it is not an accident that the Louisiana filing landed in Baton Rouge. CBS Sports, citing sources, reported last week that LSU reached out to multiple players on NFL rosters or their representatives to urge them to sue the NCAA and return to school. Dae’Quan Wright, waived by the Browns, and Zxavian Harris, who started all 15 games at Ole Miss last season before signing with the Saints, intend to follow Lane Kiffin. Junior Tuihalamaka, who did not sign a pro contract, committed Aug. 21. CBS Sports said the Buccaneers waived Jack Pyburn on Sunday; he is expected to sign with LSU if no NFL club claims him. Expected is not signed

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Kiffin told ESPN he would “absolutely” follow the court, and on Monday he told reporters he is waiting on “final clearance and guidelines from the SEC” after Thursday’s ruling. He also said, per CBS Sports, that he would follow the SEC’s rules if the court order is reversed. LSU’s roster for Clemson locks Friday. Kickoff is Saturday, Sept. 5, 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 p.m. ET) on ABC in Tiger Stadium, Kiffin’s debut. LSU’s own athletics site set that window. Last year the Tigers won 17-10 at Clemson.

The politics are not hiding. CBS Sports, citing sources, said Kiffin has been in frequent contact with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, and that some SEC people believe Landry is a driving force. Landry’s office did not return CBS’s request for comment. He did tell Front Office Sports, as quoted by CBS: “This whole thing is ridiculous. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” The “driving force” claim is unnamed-source talk. The quote is on the record.

Monday’s CBS Sports report went further into rumor territory: SEC members are weighing possible game forfeits, a federal-court challenge, even expulsion, with Yahoo Sports reporting boycott talk. CBS itself called expulsion “extremely, extremely unlikely.” The College Football Playoff weighing a ban on schools that use ineligible former pros is also sourced to unnamed SEC people, not a voted rule. Do not write it as policy.

Here is the honest split, from Trinity, Texas. Conferences ought to be able to say a pro career is a one-way door. Courts have spent a year treating NCAA eligibility like a suggestion. A Dallas judge and a Baton Rouge judge just told the most powerful league in college football it cannot enforce its own roster rules this week. That is a governance problem, not a box-score problem. It is also why Texas belongs in this story: Hoffman’s order is the first major TRO aimed at an individual conference, the AP noted, and it named Sankey personally.

Thursday does not end it. The SEC’s Sunday statement, given to CBS and ESPN, called Jorden’s order “a temporary restraining order, not a final ruling on the merits,” and said the league will “defend the SEC’s rights as a voluntary association.” That is the right language. Associations that cannot set membership rules are not associations. They are defendants.

Saturday night in Death Valley, somebody still has to block and tackle. The lawyers can have Thursday.

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