Posted by Tom Fornelli

Wide receiver Michael Harrison had been a candidate to earn a starting job on the Oklahoma State offense in 2012 but was suspended for the season in February. Now it seems that Harrison has decided since he can't play football in 2012, he doesn't want to play football in 2013 or any other year.

Harrison told head coach Mike Gundy he was leaving the Oklahoma State program last week.

“The NCAA suspended him,” Gundy told The Oklahoman. “I never suspended him, and then he chose to not play football. He made that choice himself. My recommendation to him was to finish school, because that's what you have to do. You can't go anywhere at this particular time…and then if he chooses to (leave), that's his call.

“I don't know what he wants to do. I just know that he's decided he does not want to play football anymore.” 

Harrison caught 20 passes for 255 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Cowboys last season.

Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the opening kick of the year all the way through the offseason, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. View a preview.

Get CBSSports.com College Football updates on Facebook

Posted by Chip Patterson

Oklahoma State could be without junior wide receiver Michael Harrison for the entire 2012 season, according to a local report.

Citing a source, Tusla World is reporting that Harrison has been suspended for the entire season. Rumors had been swirling that the talented outside receiver had been dismissed from the team, but The Oklahoman reported on Tuesday that was not true. However, a source did tell the paper on Sunday that the Cowboys are "not counting on [Harrison]" playing in 2012.

Harrison recorded 20 catches for 255 yards and three touchdowns as a sophomore in 2011, despite missing time due to injury. He was considered by many to be the likely replacement on the outside for star wide receiver Justin Blackmon.

The Big 12 conference schedule was released on Tuesday, and the Cowboys will host conference newcomers West Virginia and TCU. For more, check out Tom Fornelli's breakdown of the schedule.

For all the latest on Oklahoma State be sure to bookmark the Cowboys RapidReports

Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the opening kick of the year all the way through the offseason, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. View a preview.

Get CBSSports.com College Football updates on Facebook   

Posted by Tom Fornelli

Breaking down who won and who lost in the Big 12 on National Signing Day

WINNER: Mack Brown

Nothing new for Mack Brown and the Texas Longhorns on signing day this year, as the Longhorns put together a class of 28 players. Players that were good enough to earn the Longhorns the second spot in our CBS Sports National Signing Day Top 25. The Longhorns already had a strong class coming into the Wednesday, but flipping players like Torshiro Davis, Bryce Cottrell, and Daje Johnson in the last few days helped put it over the top.

LOSER: Mack Brown

How can you win and lose at the same time? Well, it's not that hard if you're Mack Brown. After all, Brown has long been considered one of the best coaches on the recruiting trail since taking over at Texas. However, the great classes that he's signed haven't done much to help the Longhorns when it comes to picking up victories the last few years. Now with another top class, the expectations that Texas compete for the Big 12 title will only grow that much larger, and considering that Connor Brewer is the only "top" quarterback in his latest class, Brown will really need the rest of his newest class to start contributing right away. If they don't we can't be sure how many more signing days Brown will have, contract extension or not.

WINNER: Boomer Sooner

While Oklahoma's class may not be as highly regarded as Texas, it's still good enough to finish at #8 in the CBS Sports National Signing Day Top 25. It has its share of studs in wide receivers Trey Metoyer and Durron Neal, along with lineman Will Latu and quarterback Trevor Knight, but more than anything Bob Stoops and his staff focused on the areas of need in Norman. Of the 25 players in Oklahoma's class, 12 are either receivers, tight ends or defensive lineman. If the Sooners had been able to add another running back or two -- and this isn't a knock on Alex Ross, David Smith, or Damien Williams -- this class would have been ranked even higher.

LOSER: Oklahoma State

It doesn't seem like the Cowboys and Mike Gundy were truly able to capitalize on their first Big 12 title and win in the Fiesta Bowl. While their 2012 class certainly isn't terrible -- I consider it pretty solid to be honest -- it's not exactly the type of class that will wow anybody either. Still, Gundy and company focused on need, and while a class full of three-star recruits isn't going to knock anybody off their feet, it's those same types of recruiting classes that Oklahoma State rode to the Fiesta Bowl last season. So while I have the Cowboys marked a as "loser" here, it's in the context of the National Signing Day. Besides, if four-star quarterback Wes Lunt and receiver C.J. Curry go on to become the next Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon, well, then this class will be magnificent won't it?

WINNER: Tommy Tuberville

Texas Tech went out and, quietly, pulled in one of the better classes in the Big 12. In fact, depending on which recruiting service you fancy, the Red Raiders trailed only Texas and Oklahoma in overall quality this season. While four-star receivers Reginald Davis and Dominique Wheeler are the flashier commits, I feel the best sign for Tech's future is the fact that at least 15 of its 26 commits will play on the defensive side of the ball. We already know Texas Tech can light up a scoreboard, but until it starts playing better on defense, it won't be able to win consistently. Recruiting classes like this one will go a long way to making that happen.

LOSER: Iowa State

Again, like I said in the Oklahoma State entry, don't take this "loser" personally. The fact is that Iowa State just isn't the type of program that is going to pull in a lot of 5- and 4-star recruits. Instead Paul Rhoads pulled in a class of 21 players comprised mostly of 3-star players. So while this class may not have a lot of "sex appeal" it could help Iowa State continue to make bowl appearances under Rhoads, and that's all you can ask of Iowa State right now.

WINNER: Fax machine distributors of the United States

Hope you made enough money this year to tide you over until next signing day.

Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the opening kick of the year all the way through the offseason, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. View a preview.

Get CBSSports.com College Football updates on Facebook

Posted by Tom Fornelli

Given the debacle that was Monday night's BCS Championship Game, and the ratings that accompanied it, there are no doubt a lot of people outside the southeastern United States who woke up on Tuesday morning wishing they had been given the chance to watch any game but the one they were given in the Superdome. Personally, as a fan of great defensive football, I was looking forward to the game even after already seeing the first meeting.

"The offenses can't play as poorly again the second time around," I thought to myself.

Well, at least one couldn't. Then there was LSU and Jordan Jefferson. Around what was roughly Jordan Jefferson's 89th attempt at running the speed option to the right, only to be swallowed whole by Alabama linebackers, I began to feel as though I were the victim of Chinese Water Torture. One more attempt and I would start spilling my darkest secrets to whoever wanted to hear them just so that LSU would try something different. Anything different. Like maybe gaining four yards.

Instead what we saw was years of work and research by Ivan Pavlov and his classical conditioning theory thrown out the window. Turns out his dogs were smarter than anybody running the LSU offense.

It was also around this point that I began thinking to myself that I'd rather have seen someone like Oklahoma State getting a chance. And while I've done my fair share of trying to prove Oklahoma State's credentials during the regular season on this blog, even then I was always under the impression that Alabama and LSU were the two best teams in the country.

I would just like to have seen what an offense like Oklahoma State's could do against a defense like LSU's, a defense that wasn't exactly stellar on Monday night if you weren't paying attention.

Which is a view point that Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy also shared following last night's game.

"I will say this," Gundy told the USA Today. "I bet you there'll be a lot of people wish they'd given us a shot to see a different kind of game.

"We'd have thrown it 50 times. You like to think Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon could have put together some touchdowns. Get the ball thrown down the field and open some things up. Try to make it exciting, and see what happens."

Surely the Cowboys, with Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon, could have put just as many points on the board against LSU as Alabama did. Combine that with Oklahoma State's defense, which was never terrible as the numbers lead one to believe, and maybe even the Tigers could have dented the scoreboard as well.

Of course, this is where you start to hear the "we've already seen what an offense like Oklahoma State can do against LSU, just ask Oregon and West Virginia" response. A response that completely ignores the fact that, while high-scoring, Oregon's offense is entirely different from Oklahoma State's, and that West Virginia's is in its infancy.

It's also an argument that conveniently omits that we'd already seen what happens between LSU and Alabama going into last night's death march as well.

Instead what we get is an Alabama team that, despite how talented and dominating it was during the season, couldn't even win its own division being crowned national champion. An idea that even when it's correct -- and it is correct -- makes absolutely no sense in a sport where every game is supposed to count.

Sometimes getting it right can go wrong.

Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the regular season all the way through the bowl games, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. View a preview. Like us? Tell our Facebook page. 

Posted by Tom Fornelli

What happens when you lead your team to its first conference title and first win in a BCS bowl game? Well, if you're Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy, you get an eight-year contract extension.

Sources tell CBSSports.com's Brett McMurphy that Gundy and Oklahoma State have agreed to a deal that will keep him on the sidelines in Stillwater through the 2019 season. The financial details of the deal aren't disclosed, but it's believed that Gundy will receive a raise that takes his yearly compensation from $2.1 million a year to $3.1 million.

That salary would likely put him among the top 15-to-20 head coaches in the FBS, and third in the Big 12 behind Mack Brown at Texas and Bob Stoops at archrivals Oklahoma.

Gundy has been at Oklahoma State since the 2005 season, going 59-30 in that time with six straight bowl appearances. However, in the last two seasons the Cowboys have gone 23-3 and won the Big 12 this season before beating Stanford in the Fiesta Bowl. Depending on how the BCS Championship Game shakes out, the Cowboys will likely finish the season ranked second in the country.

That would be a nice accomplishment for any program. At Oklahoma State, however, that kind of success is virtually unprecedented; the Cowboys haven't won an outright conference championship in any league since taking the Missouri Valley in 1948--and that league had only three members at the time. The past two seasons represent the only two 11-win seasons in school history, and Gundy's four straight 9-win seasons doubles the school's previous best streak of (you can do the math) two. (It's worth noting that the program's previous high-water mark, the back-to-back 10-win seasons featuring Barry Sanders in 1987 and 1988, ended with the school on severa probation that helped lead to eight consectuvie losing seasons between 1989 and 1996.)

It's that kind of lack of traditional success that's made the OSU job a stepping stone in the past. Gundy predecessor Les Miles never approached the heights Gundy has in Stillwater -- his best season of his four at the Cowboy helm was a 9-4 (5-3) mark in 2003 that ended in a Cotton Bowl loss to Ole Miss -- and still converted that meager success into an LSU job that ranks among the most plum in the country.

Which is why it's no surprise at all to see Gundy receive this level of commitment from the school. With Texas still looking for an offensive identity and Oklahoma still struggling to return their defense to a championship-caliber unit, there's no reason the Cowboys can't maintain a long-term perch near the top of the conference if they're ready to make the commitment ... and the presence of megabooster T. Boone Pickens ensure that that commitment should be there.

(It's worth noting here that Gundy has already had to rebuild the program on the fly, having been forced to replace record-setting quarterback Zac Robinson and Dez Bryant before the 2010 season, and then offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen before this one. In Brandon Weeden, Justin Blackmon and Todd Monken, it's safe to say Gundy passed those tests with flying colors.)

Pickens is the other reason we can't be surprised even by the hefty nine-year price tag for Gundy's extension; T. Boone said via his Twitter account at the start of December that Gundy had earned a raise. And at Oklahoma State, when T. Boone Pickens says you deserve a raise, you're going to get a raise.

When asked for comment on his new contract, Gundy had this to say.



Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the regular season all the way through the bowl games, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. | Preview

Posted by Jerry Hinnen



It was just before Christmas when SEC commissioner Mike Slive said -- regarding next year's BCS discussions and a potential new look for the system in 2014 -- he would "go to the table with the plus-one very much in mind."

When talking to Tony Barnhart on the CBS Sports Network Wednesday, however, Slive sounded even more firmly in support of a potential college football "Final Four"--and even more convinced that's exactly what's going to happen with the BCS.

"I do think we are going to see changes," Slive said, "and I don't think those changes are going to be tweaks."

When asked if the SEC's run of five (and soon to be six) national titles had changed his previous support of the plus-one -- Slive spearheaded the 2008 push to have it approved -- Slive essentially confirmed that it had not.

"For the past six years, two has been enough," Slive joked. "But I do think the plus-one has to come back to the table. I'm confident we will have a robust conversation."

Slive's full-on support for the plus-one could be the clinching factor in its passage for 2014; with the Big 12 throwing its support behind the proposal in the wake of Oklahoma State's BCS title game snub and Pac-12 athletic directors calling the plus-one "inevitable," Jim Delany and the Big Ten appear to be the only serious opposition. 

For the rest of Slive's interview with Barnhart, watch the video above. And for Mike Gundy's comments on the plus-one, watch his video interview with Tim Brando here.

Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the regular season all the way through the bowl games, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. View a preview. Like us? Tell our Facebook page.

Posted by Jerry Hinnen

Mike Gundy might not have been able to get his team into the BCS national championship game. But he got Oklahoma State closer than they'd ever been before, and that was enough to earn him the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, the Football Writers Association of Amercia announced thursday. 

Gundy was named the winner over four other finalists including Michigan's Brady Hoke, Kansas State's Bill Snyder, LSU's Les Miles and Clemson's Dabo Swinney. The Cowboys' Big 12 championship was the program's first outright conference title since 1949.

"What an honor to be recognized with the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award," Gundy said in a statement released by the FWAA. "We've had a tremendous year at Oklahoma State, winning the Big 12 and earning our first-ever trip to a BCS bowl. It's a testament to our players and our coaching staff that we are in the position that we are in. I want to thank the Football Writers Association of America for recognizing our team in this way." 

The award is presented by the Fiesta Bowl and will be given to Gundy at a ceremony in New Orleans as part of the BCS national championship festivities.

"Mike Gundy has earned this honor by inspiring excellence in his players," Fiesta executive director Robert Shelton said in the statement. "He led Oklahoma State to an 11-1 record in one of the nation's toughest conferences, and he did it with an entertaining style of play that captured the nation's attention." 

The Cowboys will face fellow 11-1, top-4 team Stanford in the Fiesta Jan. 3.

Among FWAA members writing here at Eye on CFB, Adam Jacobi cast his vote for Gundy. Chip Patterson, Bryan Fischer, and Tom Fornelli each voted for Snyder.

Posted by Adam Jacobi

Was the Big 12 the best conference in the nation this year? Was Oklahoma-Baylor a better game than Texas A&M-Kansas State? What went right and what went wrong for each team? Mike Gundy, Bill Snyder or Art Briles for Coach of the Year? Big 12 blogger Tom Fornelli joins the podcast crew to answer these questions and much more. 

Your emails could be read on the next edition of the CBSSports.com College Football Podcast, so send them in to podcast[at]cbsinteractive [dot] com.

Remember, all of the CBSSports.com College Football Podcasts can be downloaded for FREE from the iTunes Store.


You can listen to the podcast in the player below, pop out a player to keep browsing, or download the MP3 right to your computer.



If you love the podcast, you'll "Like" our new Eye On College Football Facebook page. 

Keep up with the latest college football news from around the country. From the regular season all the way through the bowl games, CBSSports.com has you covered with this daily newsletter. | Preview