AUBURN | The Big Ten and Pac-12 are out. The SEC is standing firm, for now, along with the ACC and Big 12.

It was a stunning Tuesday in college football when the Big Ten, followed shortly by the Pac-12, announced they would not play fall sports for the remainder of the calendar year and work toward bringing football back for a spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SEC, which is set to begin preseason practice Monday and a 10-game conference schedule Sept. 26, still faces some major hurdles between now and a potential SEC Championship game scheduled for Dec. 19.

The biggest question mark will come next week when students being returning to campus. Auburn, Kentucky and Mississippi State begin classes Monday. Classes at Alabama, Tennessee and Texas A&M begin Wednesday, and Georgia and South Carolina Thursday. Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt bring students back Aug. 24 while Florida won’t resume classes until Aug. 31.

When that happens, the relative bubble student athletes have been able to operate in since returning to campus a couple of months ago comes to an end. Schools are taking steps to lower the spread by social distancing and requiring masks on campus, but there are concerns that major outbreaks could occur as college students socialize outside of the classroom.

“We cannot bubble our student-athletes like pro sports can,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told reporters. “We're part of broader campus communities, student-athletes are living with peer students on campus, interacting.”

Another major issue is the emerging concern over cardiac risks to players. According to ESPN, five Big Ten student athletes were diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, after contracting COVID-19. Left untreated, it could lead to permanent heart damage or cardiac arrest.

“As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall,” Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said.

Those health concerns appear to be one of the issues SEC commissioner Greg Sankey plans to monitor closely over the coming weeks.

“I look forward to learning more about the factors that led the Big Ten and Pac-12 leadership to take these actions today,” 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.”

The SEC’s decision to continue plans to play this fall is likely dependent on the ACC and Big 12 continuing the same. The three Power 5 conferences can move forward with the Big Ten and Pac-12 out, but it’s much less likely that fall football can take place with just one or two Power 5 conferences still open for business.