Stephen A. Smith’s message to the SEC regarding potential LSU expulsion: ‘Go ahead and do it’
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The LSU Tigers‘ recent actions have put them on thin ice with the SEC. On Tuesday, the conference scheduled a meeting to consider booting the Tigers out of their ranks. To Stephen A. Smith, that is a foolish endeavor.
During Wednesday’s episode of First Take, Smith called the SEC’s supposed bluff on kicking LSU out of the conference. He believes the Tigers would be perfectly fine if they became open for bidding to other conferences.
“You want to throw them out the SEC? Go ahead and do it,” Smith said. “Watch. They ain’t gonna lose. They’ll be just fine, especially in the age of Lane Kiffin. Could you imagine Lane Kiffin as an independent? Out there on the open market with the LSU brand? Please… the SEC, sit your ass down.”
LSU would be a polarizing free agent if the SEC did expel it. The Tigers’ logical destination, geographically, would be the Big 12. And yes, LSU’s popularity could allow it to function as an independent. But the Tigers would quickly lose many of their long-established rivalries, and they simply don’t have the deep, wide-ranging national fanbase of a Notre Dame. There’s a reason the SEC was able to pull Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12. Long-term, LSU feels better off in the SEC than not.
