Yes, it is pure speculation. But to say that the NCAA wouldn't care about how their investigation might effect the outcome of the BCS championship is crazy. I'm sure they would have ruled Newton ineligible if they had real evidence in the case. Auburn could have insisted on playing him all along, and the NCAA could sit back and wait however long they wanted to rule him ineligible retrospectively, and hand down penalties on Auburn. That would be easy. Instead, Auburn said based on the investigation, we won't play him. Without a valid case, the NCAA would have looked terrible and lost all credibility as an enforcement agency for influencing the game. The NCAA does not want to put itself in a position of taking an action and then not being able to support it later. If every rumor, accusation or investigation has the effect of disqualifying players before the facts are known, it will become a farce. I believe the NCAA knows this and hopes to avoid any rulings on eligibility prior to completing a 2 year investigation. DR gave them the perfect loophole by allowing them to rule on a procedural error and mostly ignore eligibility. Unfortunately, not many programs can force the NCAA's hand the way Auburn did.