I'm going to have to pick this book up! I think part of the dangers of early college football was that it was a continuous game like rugy, there was no down or distance. But even worse there were no limits to the amount of players. So the home school was at a huge advantage, and could literally have hundreds of players on the field at once.
The modern rules of down and distance, and # of players on the field only came into effect after Teddy Roosevelt threatened to cancel college football following the several seasons that saw 20-25 students die each year.