Cannot say for certain this is a death knell, and I don't know enough of the back stories to make an informed comment on the bastardization of the game we all have loved for so long......But if one were going to set out to destroy college football, something so powerful and with such momentum from the 90's into the new century, the ONLY way it could have been done was thru changing the rules that set some guidelines on a player's mobility or ties to a school. There are some who say this was the hidden agenda all along. I do think there are power brokers (i.e. politicians perhaps) out there who have always hated the game and dreamed of killing it. Me, I don't know enuf about the movers and shakers behind the scenes to have a fact-based comment. But the death of this game which seems close upon us could not have happened without the NCAA's loss of direction, and abdication of power. And who engineered that? Not sure, but it WAS engineered, my instincts tell me.
Did someone see that a NFL coach or rep of some kind recently predicted the NFL would become an enhanced version of flag football someday soon to stop the injuries? Good Lord, if true.