LSU linebacker Devin White was ejected for targeting in the second half of the Tigers’ 19-3 win against Mississippi State last week.

Targeting, the NCAA says, is when “a player takes aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with forcible contact that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball,” and is not just a helmet-to-helmet hit. When a player is called for targeting in the second half of a game, he is immediately ejected and then suspended for the first half of the next game.

Here is the play involving White:

The problem for LSU fans? Their next game is against No. 1 Alabama, the biggest game of the season for the fourth-ranked Tigers. Without White, who already has 76 total tackles so far this season and is perhaps the best player on the Tigers’ defense, LSU will be missing an important piece.

And, naturally, they aren’t taking the news well.

A #FreeDevinWhite billboard

One LSU fan started a GoFundMe page raising money to put up multiple #FreeDevinWhite billboards around Birmingham, Alabama — where the SEC headquarters is located — in an effort to persuade the league to overrule the suspension.

The campaign had nearly hit its initial goal just an hour into its creation. Within 24 hours, two billboards had been put up in Birmingham.

If there are still leftover funds, the owner isn’t planning to pocket the extra cash. According to the post, the excess funds will be donated to the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.

Why? White loves horses, and owns seven of them.

AD Joe Alleva contacted SEC, fought suspension

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva has contacted the SEC office to “voice his displeasure” with the call to suspend White, according to The Advocate.

While he can complain to the league all he wants, there is likely little Alleva can do. There is no formal appeals process for the ruling.

The SEC stood by the call, too.

“The QB on the play was defenseless at the time of the contact,” the league said in a statement on Sunday. “By rule, all targeting calls are reviewed. The call was reviewed and confirmed.”

Despite Alleva’s best efforts, it was confirmed late Monday that the suspension will be upheld.

“Discussions with the SEC made clear there is no process for appeal,” LSU official Robert Munson said. “The suspension will stand.”

A cry of collusion between the SEC and Alabama

Longtime political strategist and LSU graduate James Carville wrote in The Advocate on Sunday that the targeting call and suspension against White reveals “collusion” between the SEC and Alabama.

Yes, really.

From Carville’s column:

Carville isn’t the only political figure getting in on the call, either. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards took to Twitter shortly after the call to voice his displeasure, too.

Carville then called for commissioner Greg Sankey to “rip up this suspension,” so as to not “taint SEC football history with this skid mark of a decision.”

His column didn’t bode well with noted “Paul Finebaum Show” caller and Alabama fan Phyllis from Mulga.

While fans may not be happy with the ruling, and could argue that the rule has been called inconsistently since it was first introduced, that doesn’t mean there is “collusion” as Carville claims.

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