With California under some of the strictest stay-at-home orders in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some concerns that FBS schools in the state won’t be able to start the 2020 season on time.

Alabama is set to play USC in Dallas in Week 1, but rumors surfaced this week that the Tide are in conversations with TCU about a potential Week 1 showdown if the Trojans can’t do it.

Alabama AD Greg Byrne said the plan is to play USC. During a Q&A session on Wednesday, he doubled down on that, denying the TCU rumors:

“I don’t even know how I found out yesterday, but it’s like, ‘Oh, I heard we’re playing TCU instead of USC to start the football season.’ That was how I received it,” Byrne said, “and I said, ‘Really? That’s news to me. I guess I missed that contract coming across my desk.’

“And so Mike Bohn, the AD at USC, he and I have talked throughout this. … I know the comments that came out of Los Angeles County yesterday were challenging and concerning for people. They’ve already walked some of that back here, and so I think that gives you another example — let’s take our time, let’s look at this holistically and make the decisions we have to today for the short term. But the ones we can wait on, let’s wait on, and there’s nothing wrong with that right now.”

Byrne is right — it is only May. The season doesn’t kick off for 4 more months. A lot can change in that time.