re: Maason Smith suspended Game 1 VS FSU according to Wilson Alexander

LSU will be without star defensive tackle Maason Smith for its top-10 season opening showdown against Florida State, but not for lack of effort on the part of the Tigers.

Smith was suspended for one game by the NCAA over impermissible benefits stemming from a summer 2021 autograph signing.

The program filed an appeal of the one-game suspension with the NCAA but was denied, with the NCAA noting that there would not be a grandfather clause extended to Smith.

Not only that, but LSU also attempted to look into scheduling a Week Zero game so that Smith could serve his one-game suspension then, rather than against Florida State, according to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger. They simply couldn’t make the logistics work in time.

“We looked at all the options out there, certainly, and wanted to make sure that we examined everything that was possible,” coach Brian Kelly told Yahoo! Sports. “We looked at everything. We looked at a Week Zero game to bring in another opponent prior to Florida State. We looked at every imaginable option, but time ran out.”