Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant, hot-shot recruit turned sleek All-American acrobat and drooled-over, future first-round prospect, is very ineligible for very vague reasons, per the university:

The university announced Wednesday that Bryant “failed to openly disclose to the NCAA the full details of his interaction with a former NFL player not affiliated with OSU.” Oklahoma State (3-1) said it had already asked the NCAA to reinstate Bryant for the violation of bylaw 10.1(d), which prohibits players from knowingly providing false information to the NCAA regarding a possible rules violation.

“I made a mistake by not being entirely truthful when meeting with the NCAA,” Bryant said in a statement released by the university.

It's not clear if Bryant actually did anything worth lying about, or merely "perjured" himself over some trivial matter, but most rulings involving the letters "NFL" are quickly connected to "early contact with an agent." That's purely speculation at this point; OSU is appealing the alleged violation.

It's also not clear whether Bryant is suspended for the season or whether he's finished in Stillwater, though this may be a semantic point: The draft is ready and waiting next April. But his absence does threaten to bring the Cowboys' passing game to its knees -- before sitting out last Saturday's warm-up against Grambling, Bryant had twice as many catches as any other player on the team, just as he did en route to leading the Big 12 in receiving in 2008, and hauled in a pair of touchdowns and a big punt return in the win over Georgia. He leaves no reliable target in his wake.

Bryant's immediate future is in flux, but long term, there's little doubt he's taking his show to the next level at the first available opportunity. The best Oklahoma State -- and we as appreciative viewers --can hope for is another game or two following an NCAA reversal, however unlikely; at any rate, with Missouri and Texas on tap before the end of the month and Texas Tech and Oklahoma waiting in November, it's not likely to come in time to save the Cowboys' suddenly battered prospects of taking the Big 12 South.