NCAA Threatened To Suspend Players At Major Big 12 Program In Week 1

The Oklahoma State Cowboys’ season opener was one of the more intriguing contests to start the year as they hosted the 2023 FCS champion South Dakota State Jackrabbits. The Cowboys are just one year removed from one devastating early season home loss when they were blown out 7-33 by the South Alabama Jaguars in week three of the 2023 season. Several college football analysts circled this game against the Jackrabbits as a potential repeat.

The Pokes kept the game within their grasp for most of the 60 minutes, but one of the big storylines was the QR codes missing from their opening day uniforms which were teased leading up to the game. The link was supposed to send users to the Cowboys’ general NIL fund page where fans or viewers could make donations in real time.

The team’s page on X still posted the QR code during the middle of the game, but at least for week one, the codes were missing from the uniforms reportedly due to the NCAA blocking the use of them. Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy finally shed a little more light on what action the NCAA said they’d take if players wore uniforms with the QR codes.

“It was punishable by the players being suspended if we put the QR codes on the helmets,” Gundy told media members on Saturday . “It’s pretty vague, and all we’re trying to do is the most we can do to maximize our player's opportunities with fans across the world that don’t have a chance to be involved if they’re not local, and they felt like that, it was a uniform violation because it had a social media handle to it.”

Even though they couldn’t wear them on Saturday, Gundy learned how effective these codes could be in generating NIL donations off the field.

“You know, it’s in these restaurants, it’s in bars, it’s all over campus,” Gundy said. “There is a link on social media, but that is not on the QR code. So Thursday night, the guy that watches it for us, he was texting me, and people were sending money to it at some bar, made several $1,000 on it.”

The Cowboys didn’t seem phased without the QR codes beating the Jackrabbits 44-20. It remains to be seen if they’ll be able to wear them in their week two matchup at home against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Kickoff is scheduled for Sept. 7 at noon ET on ABC.

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