The Oklahoma Sate Cowboys football program is getting beat up by Sports Illustrated, and the blows just keep getting worse. 

SI is releasing a five-part investigative series into the Cowboys football team, revealing that players were paid during the Les Miles era in Stillwater. Multiple players received between $2,000 and $10,000 annually, according to the report, while certain stars received as much as $25,000 or more. The payments ranged from meal stipends to performance bonuses to compensation for fake jobs. Eight players told SI they received money and 29 others were named by teammates as having taken cash.

Another installment 
detailed the process by which tutors and school personnel completed school work for players while professors gave athletes passing grades for little or no work. Several former Cowboys players have denied the allegations, including Cleveland Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden, who said he “laughed out loud” after hearing the reports.

Kessler named starting QB at USC

USC head coach Lane Kiffin made good on his promise to name a starting quarterback prior to Week 3 of the college football season, tabbing sophomore Cody Kessler the starter for this week’s contest against Boston College. Kessler and sophomore Max Wittek, who backed up Matt Barkley last year, have split time in each of the team’s first two games this year. It appears as though the job is Kessler’s to lose at this point.

Clowney struggling to live up to Heisman hype

Everybody had South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney as a Heisman candidate and a lock for the first overall pick in next year’s NFL Draft before this season. But we’re just two weeks into the season and people are already having their doubts.

South Carolina’s opponents have clearly game planned around Clowney, often leaving him looking tired and frustrated.

“It’s hard out there trying to chase from the backside, they just take me right out of the game,” Clowney told reporters this week. “They want to move me around, that’s up to them.”