The expulsion vote cooled overnight. Tech did not.

The expulsion vote cooled overnight. Tech did not.

Rousse called it moot. Sankey’s Thursday Zoom still happens. Saturday is still Death Valley.

By Rhett Landry

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.

That is not peace. That is a pause with a paper trail.

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.

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.

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.