BATON ROUGE — LSU President Wade Rousse says the university "respects the judicial process" after a judge ruled in favor of allowing players to seek a fifth year of eligibility.

After nine hours of testimony and debate on Thursday, 19th JDC Judge William Jorden ruled in favor of the players, paving the way for the athletes to play in their fifth year of eligibility. The judge enjoined LSU, the SEC and the NCAA from taking any prohibitive action against the players. The decision effectively means that LSU must roster the players for the upcoming seasons. 

The ruling came two days before LSU’s season opener against Clemson in Tiger Stadium and ensures the eligibility of multiple LSU football players, including former Cleveland Brown Dae'Quan Wright, former New Orleans Saint Zxavian Harris and former Denver Bronco Blake Cotton. Also on Thursday, the SEC sued LSU, claiming that the school is creating a competitive imbalance and causing harm to the conference.

On Friday morning, Rousse said that it is the university's responsibility to support its programs "while complying with the law and the rules governing our conference." 

"We will carefully review the court's order and continue to work constructively with the SEC and NCAA as this matter moves forward," Rousse said in a statement. "College football does not deserve this kind of ambiguity in eligibility standards."

He ended his statement with a call for Congress to pass a version of the Protect College Sports Act.

A version of this bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate in June. If passed, the bill would provide student-athletes with one transfer without losing athletic eligibility and restrict football personnel from becoming the head football coach at a different institution during the same season.

It would also establish requirements for name, image or likeness agreements for college student-athletes and provide a limited antitrust exemption for schools and conferences to pool and sell certain college sports media rights.