Just when you thought the upcoming showdown between LSU and Ole Miss could not get any crazier, the initial SEC availability report was released on Wednesday night with Sam Leavitt on it.
As the mood began to shift on Wednesday night around Oxford, with tension starting to increase around town ahead of Saturday’s game, there was an audible gasp that could probably be felt from living rooms across the country.
If you were looking for additional drama between the Rebels and Tigers, it was Lane Kiffin that provided the smoke when starting quarterback Sam Leavitt was listed as ‘doubtful’ on the SEC’s website pertaining to injuries.
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After throwing for 366 yards and four touchdowns last week against Louisiana Tech, with three interceptions, everything around Leavitt seemed normal as the week began in Baton Rouge.
That changed when Leavitt was held to limited participation in Wednesday’s practice because of an upper-body injury, according to sources who spoke with OutKick.
Would this be enough to keep him out of action come Saturday? That’s a question being asked across college football on Wednesday night.
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During his press conference on Monday, head coach Lane Kiffin did not bring up any type of injury that Leavitt had sustained during the win over Louisiana Tech, although he wasn’t asked either. Did something transpire last weekend that we did not see during his four-touchdown game?
This could be answered on Thursday night, when Lane Kiffin is scheduled to hold his coaches show in Baton Rouge before the team leaves for the Oxford area on Friday afternoon.
For those unfamiliar, the SEC and other conferences began issuing availability reports several years ago, with the initial report coming out three days before a team is set to play.
On Thursday, there will be a second update to the report, and another on Friday, before the SEC requires a final availability report to be issued 90 minutes before the respective hits the field for warm-ups. Teams are fined if they do not adhere to conference protocol.
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And yes, a school can be punished for any type of gamesmanship when it comes to these reports. How seriously Sam Leavitt is injured — and whether that injury will sideline him for Saturday’s highly anticipated game against Ole Miss — will remain unclear for as long as Lane Kiffin chooses to keep it under wraps.
Being designated as ‘doubtful’ means that the player is “unlikely to play due to significant concerns”, according to the SEC handbook. If Leavitt had been designated as ‘questionable’, it would mean he is “uncertain to play due to injury or condition.”
So, for LSU to put him near the bottom of their status monitoring, the Tigers are certainly at least concerned that he might not suit up for the game.
We will continue to monitor this situation, as the drama continues to build before this SEC showdown that has Lane Kiffin returning to Oxford as the LSU head coach.