SEC football updates: Here’s the latest news about fall sports on Aug. 12

It’s Wednesday, Aug. 12, and South Carolina football, along with its SEC counterparts, are five days away from the planned start to preseason camp.

Whether or not the conference will make it through camp and to its Sept. 26 opening games remains to be seen. With the coronavirus pandemic still widespread and plenty of concerns over health and safety, four of the 10 FBS conferences have already said they won’t play football this fall, including the Power Five’s Big Ten and Pac-12 leagues. Here’s the latest news and reports on how the SEC is proceeding.

Greg Sankey: ‘Thorough and deliberate approach’

For the first time in either of their histories, the Big Ten and Pac-12 won’t play at all this fall, they both announced Tuesday. The decisions, while expected, still sent shockwaves through college sports.

“There is too much uncertainty now for us to go forward,” commissioner Kevin Warren said on the Big Ten Network. “This is a novel virus. It is spreading at an alarming rate. ... There are just too many uncertainties from a medical standpoint for us to go forward.”

In response, the SEC and ACC released statements from their commissioners Tuesday evening that conveyed similar messages: We’re not giving up just yet.

“I look forward to learning more about the factors that led the Big Ten and Pac-12 leadership to take these actions today,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “I remain comfortable with the thorough and deliberate approach that the SEC and our 14 members are taking to support a healthy environment for our student-athletes. We will continue to further refine our policies and protocols for a safe return to sports as we monitor developments around COVID-19 in a continued effort to support, educate and care for our student-athletes every day.”

Big 12 releases schedule

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 out, the Big 12 was seen by many observers as a “swing vote” of sorts in the Power Five. If it chose to postpone as well, the ACC and SEC would be left on their own and in the minority — not forced to cancel but certainly feeling a lot more pressure.

But after a Tuesday meeting with university presidents, athletic directors and commissioner Bob Bowlsby, reports emerged from SoonerScoop.com, Yahoo Sports and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that for now, the conference is moving ahead with plans to play this fall. And on Wednesday, the conference confirmed it by releasing a new schedule for its nine conference games and one nonconference matchup.

Ray Tanner says he’s pleased with testing protocols at USC

In a sign of just how chaotic and rapidly evolving the situation is, South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner was live on the air with 107.5 FM on Tuesday afternoon when news broke that the Big Ten would be punting on a fall season.

Informed of the decision, Tanner stuck with the SEC line that other conferences’ moves won’t dictate what the league does. Speaking later Tuesday night on SportsTalk SC, Tanner did admit that the Big Ten and Pac-12’s cancellations were “not what we wanted to hear, necessarily.” But he continued to reiterate that South Carolina and the SEC are moving forward and are pleased with their own testing protocols.

When asked if it might be possible for nonconference games to be added to the schedule at a later date, potentially saving the Clemson-USC rivalry game, Tanner told SportsTalk that nothing would happen without the blessings of the SEC and ACC but did note the rapidly evolving nature of the situation and didn’t shut down the possibility completely.

“Who knows?” Tanner said. “We’re in the midst of a pandemic, an unprecedented time, and we’d love to see sport ... but you know what? The health and safety is the most important thing we deal with with our student-athletes.”

Nebraska still hoping to play this fall

While the SEC’s presidents, coaches and players have been mostly united in their approach to the coronavirus and the season, the Big Ten has seen some high-profile pushback.

Most notably on Monday, before the decision was official, Penn State coach James Franklin and Ohio State coach Ryan Day left open the idea of playing in the fall no matter what, essentially revolting against the conference and putting together a non-Big Ten schedule.

Once the decision was announced Tuesday, Penn State and Ohio State both seemed to back down, indicating their support. Nebraska and head coach Scott Frost, however, did not, releasing a statement saying the Cornhuskers still hope to play this fall.

The likelihood of Nebraska, or any other program, joining the SEC for one year in order to play this fall was always low, and Sankey has said such an idea is “not practical,” according to Saturday Down South.