Once news came out that Vanderbilt was forced to postpone its game this week against Missouri because of COVID-19 numbers, South Carolina issued a statement. Contact tracing and having enough players available to play became a question of concern.

The Gamecocks beat Vanderbilt 41-7 on Saturday in Nashville.

South Carolina reacted to the need to quarantine people within the Vanderbilt program and how that might affect the Gamecocks.

“Our athletics training staff has been notified by Vanderbilt, per SEC protocols, that no players on the Gamecock football team were identified as being a close contact that would result in quarantine,” the statement read. “A close contact is identified as someone who is within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 cumulative minutes. We will continue to test our players as normal SEC protocols — three times each week.”

Vanderbilt’s decision came in part after the SEC has required teams to have 53 scholarship players ready to play in order to compete on game day. In addition to having 53 players available, the SEC mandated that each team one quarterback, seven offensive linemen and four defensive linemen ready to play on game day.

South Carolina appears set to continue preparations for its game against Auburn on Saturday in Williams-Brice Stadium, which is set for noon ET on ESPN.