The seemingly never-ending saga between Ole Miss and the NCAA will be coming to an end in the near future. The school’s hearing with the Committee on Infractions began Monday in Kentucky and is scheduled to run until Wednesday. When the hearing is over, a ruling is expected to come down within the next 6-8 weeks.

The participants in attendance for the hearing include current Ole Miss administration, current interim head coach Matt Luke, former head coach Hugh Freeze and his former assistants Barney Farrar and Chris Kiffin. Also in attendance will be Mississippi State linebacker Leo Lewis.

One party that won’t be in attendance, despite requesting to be there, is Mississippi State. According to Steven Godfrey of SB Nation, the school requested to have representatives at the hearing “as observers” in considering Lewis would be in attendance.

That request was denied. Here’s an excerpt from Godfrey’s report:

Here’s an excerpt from Godfrey’s report:

COI chair and Xavier University athletic director Greg Christopher denied an August 16 request by Mississippi State to have officials from MSU attend the event “as observers.” Christopher states MSU requested to attend the event “to guard the interests of one of its student athlete who will attend the hearing,” per language from Mississippi State counsel.

The MSU linebacker won’t be left totally exposed to questioning, however, as the SEC will have representatives on location during the hearing to “support” Lewis.

For those of you unaware, Lewis was asked to attend the hearing after the NCAA granted him immunity in exchange for truthful testimony regarding his recruitment coming out of high school. Lewis at one point was an Ole Miss commit and has alleged many violations occurred during his recruitment. That testimony is critical evidence being used against Ole Miss in some of the 21 violations the program faces during the hearing.

For all the twists and turns in this saga, this is likely the first time any school has actually requested to participate in a Committee on Infractions hearing. Most schools run from such events. Somehow, these types of details serve as another reminder of just how bizarre this whole ordeal has been over the years.

Thankfully, in a few short weeks, this will all be finally over.