The Southeastern Conference has officially made its decision when it comes to setting the guidelines for the potential canceling and/or rescheduling of football games this fall.

The decision the SEC has come to is pretty simple — all teams must have 53 scholarship players available to compete on Saturday.

In addition to needing to have 53 scholarship players available to play, each team must have seven offensive linemen (including one center), one quarterback and four defensive linemen available on Saturday.

If these numbers are not met, games will be postponed or canceled.

However, two notes stand out from the SEC’s official declaration of these numbers:

The impacted institution has the option to play the game with fewer than the 53 scholarship players or fewer than the minimum number of position players listed above if it elects to do so. Otherwise, upon approval by the Commissioner, the game would be rescheduled or declared a no contest.

That’s straight from the SEC, so it appears there may be an opportunity to play games even if a team isn’t able to field these numbers on a Saturday.

This note concerning what happens when a team can’t field enough scholarship players is also interesting:

In addition, should an institution determine there are compelling reasons why it cannot begin a contest regardless of the scholarship and position minimums above, the institution may request to have the game rescheduled or, if the game cannot be rescheduled, for the game to be considered a no contest by presenting data (including total number of players not available to participate) outlining reasons why the game should not be played as scheduled. The final decision to reschedule or declare the game a no contest is vested only with the Commissioner.