The preliminary hearing in the SEC’s lawsuit against LSU was postponed Wednesday afternoon, amid signs that the two sides were de-escalating their fight over the eligibility of two players who signed NFL contracts.The SEC had scheduled a vote for Thursday on whether to kick LSU out of the conference. It’s not clear whether the call will still happen.LSU president Wade Rousse sent SEC commissioner Greg Sankey a letter, dated Wednesday, to “clear up the allegations against LSU.” The document, obtained through a public records request, said two key issues in the dispute between the conference and officials from one of its charter members are moot.First, Rousse said the Tigers declined to add the one-time NFL players, Dae’Quan Wright or Zxavian Harris, to their roster and instead filled the final two spots with other players. The move, Rousse wrote, meant LSU’s roster was “locked for the season” and in compliance with SEC rules.Second, Rousse said LSU would not “challenge, disrupt or seek to cancel or postpone” Thursday’s meeting of SEC presidents/chancellors. The SEC’s ability to meet — and potentially vote to expel LSU from the conference — was the crux of the amended lawsuit the conference filed Tuesday in federal court. A hearing on the matter was postponed shortly before it was supposed to take place Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala. A written order rescheduling the hearing has not yet been entered into the court system.There is still a Thursday call with SEC presidents and chancellors, but it was previously scheduled, so they could still meet and not vote on the LSU situation. The Athletic has submitted public records requests to several schools for the meeting agenda. The only school to respond so far, Missouri, said it had not received a schedule or agenda for the meeting.The SEC is threatening to kick out LSU and Lane KiffinJustin WilliamsTension remains inside the conference over the situation, specifically the perception that LSU coach Lane Kiffin was orchestrating the player lawsuits and was not being stopped by LSU’s administration. The SEC’s amended lawsuit says Rousse and athletics director Verge Ausberry “have no meaningful control over Kiffin or the football program at LSU.”While administrators have largely been quiet, politicians have not. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has been outspoken; he was instrumental last year in removing then-AD Scott Woodward, replacing him with Ausberry and hiring Rousse.U.S. Sen. John Kennedy told reporters Tuesday the idea of the SEC kicking out LSU was “bone-deep, down-to-the-marrow stupid” and, if executed, would leave him and other members of Congress on the SEC “like a hobo on a ham sandwich.” In an interview with Tiger Rag Radio that night, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill called the SEC’s First Amendment claims “garbage” and part of an ongoing fight to “demonize Lane Kiffin.”But Murrill also left room for de-escalation. She said she hoped the federal judge would determine that the matter belonged in another court, allowing everyone to “let the rest of the week play out.”“A lot of things can change in the next 24 hours,” she added.Sankey and SEC presidents have decided to draw a red line on players who signed pro contracts returning to college, even if they didn’t play in NFL games. They adopted strong penalties against schools that did so, including a fine, half-season suspension for the coach and revoking of votes on league business matters — and the commissioner’s discretion to do more.The fact that didn’t cause Kiffin to drop the issue, or his bosses to tell him to drop it, drew even more ire.“Forced association with a member whose conduct is antithetical to the SEC’s mission and core values violates the Conference’s fundamental First Amendment rights. LSU has rejected those core values repeatedly and publicly,” the SEC filing reads.The SEC has never booted a member: Sewanee (1940), Georgia Tech (1964) and Tulane (1966) left on their own. In other conferences, the Big East kicked Temple out in 2001, but that was for on-field performance. For the closest major conference comparison, you have to go back to 1929, when the Big Ten kicked out Iowa over paying players, but the Hawkeyes were readmitted less than a year later.Kiffin made his coaching debut for LSU in a 51-10 win over Clemson on Saturday night. The No. 8 Tigers host Louisiana Tech this Saturday before Kiffin makes his return to Ole Miss on Sept. 19.