All that ragin' was prompted by what Carville perceived to be a conference conspiracy against his beloved LSU. There was so much ragin', in fact, that ESPN had to apologize later in the day, hours before LSU hosted — and was shut out by — No. 1 Alabama. Carville was steamed over the fact that linebacker Devin White, who had been ejected for targeting during the second half of an earlier game against Mississippi State, had to sit out the first half of the team’s next game, which came after LSU’s bye and happened to be against 'Bama.

Carville accused SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey of being biased toward the Crimson Tide, pointing out that other SEC defensive players — like Tennessee’s Daniel Bituli, Missouri’s Terez Hall and Texas A&M’s Donovan Wilson — also missed parts of games against Alabama because of targeting fouls.

“And now the best defensive player in the conference is not going to play in the first half because of officials,” said Carville, a Louisiana native and LSU grad who is a professional in residence at its Manship School of Mass Communication. “He did nothing wrong. Everybody in the world who saw that tape said he went in there with his hands up.”

Carville at the time happened to be wearing a sweatshirt in LSU colors, with the words “Greg Sankey [hearts] Alabama. ‘Bec mon tchu, s’il vous plait.” That translates, roughly, as “kiss my backside,” and so ESPN anchor Chris Cotter later read an apology during Saturday’s Auburn-Texas A&M game.

“We have an apology to make on behalf of ESPN,” he said. “While appearing as a guest on College GameDay earlier today, James Carville offered his thoughts on SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. As we regularly demonstrate here on ESPN, diverse opinions are encouraged. However, these actions were over the top, and we would like to apologize to Commissioner Sankey for that.”

Carville spotted the apology while having lunch and tweeted: “Grabbing bite to eat ⁦@philsoysterbar⁩ and I see gutless ESPN cut in their show to bow down to the SEC. Well I got documentary evidence they knew what they were gonna get on air but still can’t help but suck up to power. #GeauxTigers #speaktruthtopower #releasethetexts”

As for White’s hit, plenty of folks thought it was a poor call. ESPN’s Tim Tebow called it “ridiculous,” adding that “the NCAA should step in.” He just said it differently than Carville.

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