ESPN apologizes to SEC for James Carville’s Bama conspiracy theories

During ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast live from Baton Rouge, political strategist and known LSU fan James Carville offered a bit of a conspiracy theory regarding the SEC and targeting suspensions. On the show, Carville was asked about Tiger cornerback Devin White’s suspension, and he had this to say:

Tennessee’s best defensive player couldn’t play against Alabama because of the SEC, Missouri’s best defensive player couldn’t play against Alabama because the SEC kicked him out. A&M’s best defensive player couldn’t play against Alabama because he was taken out.

And now, the best defensive player in the conference is not going to play the first half for nothing, he did nothing wrong.

Carville is referring to suspensions stemming from the NCAA’s targeting rule, which states that a player ejected for targeting in the second half by rule will also be suspended for the first half of the player’s next game. The center of all this controversy is White, who was ejected for targeting on Oct. 20 against Mississippi State in the second half, which means he’ll miss the first half against Alabama. White’s suspension was upheld despite Tigers AD Joe Alleva reportedly advocating for the SEC to overturn White’s suspension.

A couple hours later, ESPN issued an on-air apology to the SEC for Carville’s comments:

ESPN maybe could have suspected Carville would say something along the lines of what he did on Saturday. On Oct. 21, Carville filed a letter to the editor with The Advocate to voice his disagreement with the suspension:

If there was any doubt, the SEC crew in zebra stripes made it clear Saturday night. The league is in cahoots with the Crimson Tide. Yes, it appears there is collusion.

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva has contacted the Southeastern Conference office to voice his displeasure with the targeting foul called Satu…

After the botched targeting call on LSU linebacker Devin White, the SEC is presented with a rare moment to atone for past sins and put to rest its prior affairs. It has an opportunity to take a stand for fairness and democracy.

These moments in history are fleeting.

I have to think back to June 12, 1987, when President Ronald Reagan stood in West Berlin and declared “tear down this wall” to find a similar moment in time of our history. (OK, I realize that LSU football is not as important as people living under tyranny — but it’s close.)

Rip up this suspension. It was a botched call, a botched review and could forever cement the SEC’s love affair with Alabama.

We’ve seen ESPN choose to issue apologies to conferences before — most recently, the network apologized for commentator Mark Jones’ comments regarding Washington that made a whole bunch of Pac-12 folks, including commissioner Larry Scott, pretty mad.

This might not be the last time we hear about the whole White situation, to say the least.