I think that's playing with fire by Holgerson. It's a semantics argument whether or not it's tanking. At best I'd consider it similar to a baseball team selling around the AS break. I suppose it's a little different than a hard-core tank job like in the NBA when teams sit available players with the goal actually being to lose that season. It's a fine line, and not sure it matters if you want to call it tanking or not.
I think it's a bad long-term strategy, though. Unlike pro sports where you have a draft to build players, in CFB you get talent by winning games and creating an atmosphere players want to take part in. Forcing someone to do that, punting on a season when it's not even half way through, and leaving guys that have already redshirted in a big disadvantage this season isn't a good way to attract players.