TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
LSU, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and the other defendants in the Southeastern Conference’s federal lawsuit asked an Alabama judge Friday to dismiss the case with prejudice, arguing the conference has no live controversy for a federal court to decide.
The motion filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in Birmingham, challenges the SEC’s amended complaint on four separate grounds. The defendants contend there is no Article III case or controversy, the court lacks general or specific personal jurisdiction over them, venue is improper in Alabama, and the SEC has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
The filing invokes Rules 12(b)(1), 12(b)(2), 12(b)(3) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and asks the court to dismiss every claim in the SEC’s amended complaint. The defendants include LSU President Wade Rousse, Vice President and Athletic Director Verge Ausberry, football coach Lane Kiffin, members of the LSU Board of Supervisors and Murrill, all of whom were sued in their official capacities by the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey.
The filing was not a decision by the SEC to withdraw its lawsuit. It was the defendants’ formal response asking the court to end it.
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported Friday that attorneys for the SEC and LSU had been discussing a negotiated resolution during the week. Murrill said those discussions had not produced an end to the case.
“While I appreciate attempts by both sides to de-escalate, the SEC has not moved to end the federal lawsuit against LSU or me,” Murrill said in a statement to Yahoo Sports. She said Louisiana therefore had to act in its sovereign interest and seek dismissal.
The SEC filed the lawsuit on Sept. 3 after a Baton Rouge judge prohibited the NCAA and SEC from preventing LSU from rostering former NFL roster members Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, who enrolled at LSU to play. The conference alleged LSU and Kiffin intended to add the two former Ole Miss players after they had signed NFL contracts and appeared on professional rosters, conduct prohibited by SEC rules.
Trey’Dez Green injury proves Lane Kiffin thought the juice was worth the squeeze at first. Column:https://t.co/lJ98sprdbS
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 24, 2026
The SEC amended its complaint Sept. 8 and sought judicial protection for a possible vote to terminate LSU’s conference membership. The amended filing accused LSU officials of failing to exercise institutional control over Kiffin and contended that LSU’s conduct violated the conference’s First Amendment right of expressive association.
But Kiffin never placed Wright or Harris on his final 105-player roster. Kiffin filled the remaining roster positions with other players Sept. 8, eliminating any immediate possibility that Wright or Harris would compete for the Tigers during the 2026 season after brief stays with Cleveland and New Orleans of the NFL before being cut. The federal court postponed a preliminary-injunction hearing the next day, and SEC presidents and chancellors did not vote to expel LSU from the conference after much reaching publicity that it would.
Rousse subsequently told Sankey that LSU had complied with the conference policy, the roster was locked and the dispute was moot. The defendants have now placed that position before U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon as a threshold constitutional question as the SEC is asking a federal court to decide a hypothetical dispute after the conduct it sought to prevent never actually occurred.
SEC and LSU tensions flaring back up. SEC “deeply disappointed” in recent LSU filing to dismiss federal lawsuit. https://t.co/SwV2EJ3Lhb
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 25, 2026
The SEC’s amended complaint argues the controversy extends beyond the roster decision. The conference alleges LSU’s recruitment of the players, Kiffin’s public statements and the Louisiana litigation already damaged the SEC’s institutional identity and interfered with its right to enforce its rules. The defendants counter that those allegations do not establish a live federal claim against Louisiana officials in an Alabama court.
The Kiffin “public statement” was a joking comment to ESPN after the Tigers beat Clemson, 51-10, on Sept. 5 without Wright and Harris.
“Imagine if we had pro players,” Kiffin cracked. And Sankey apparently got upset.
Friday’s four-page motion refers to an accompanying memorandum containing the defendants’ full legal arguments and supporting authorities. That memorandum had not appeared on publicly accessible court-record services by late Friday afternoon.
The SEC will have an opportunity to oppose the motion before Axon rules. Unless the parties reach an agreement first, the case now turns away from the original fight over Wright and Harris and toward a more fundamental question: whether the SEC had a federal case to file at all.
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