While Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte has given mixed messages on his feelings about playing A&M, Aggie athletic directors Scott Woodward and Ross Bjork have been more direct with a firm "no." Bjork reiterated that stance Tuesday when he held a teleconference with members of the media.

“Our position remains the same, that we’re focused on other things right now,” he said. "If that happens, let's make it happen in the college football playoff."

When asked if he would consider playing Texas if the COVID-19 pandemic forces changes to the 2020 non-conference schedule, Bjork demurred.

"If schedules get adjusted and that's our only option," he said. "There are 11 FBS teams in Texas, right?"

The primary objective for Bjork and other SEC ADs at the moment isn't scheduling non-conference rivals, but ensuring there's a football season at all. A&M's AD said Tuesday that he's increasingly optimistic that will occur.

"With the leadership of our university at the system level and the campus level talking about opening classes in the fall gives us great optimism and we can start really planning around that," he said. "A lot of people say hope is not a strategy; in this case, hope is an attitude and you need to have a positive attitude. We're planning like we're going to play."

Bjork emphasized the importance of not only having football played, but having fans in the stands if possible. He noted that $85 million of Texas A&M's approximately $150 million athletics budget for 2019-20 came from ticket sales and annual fund donations and the critical role football plays in the overall economy of the Brazos Valley.

"If you really boil it down to an economic impact standpoint, football is an economic engine and the vitality of our community relies heavily on football," he said.

How Kyle Field and other football facilities around the country will deal with the pandemic remains an open question, but one Bjork said is the source of frequent conversation. He did say, however, that reducing the size of Kyle Field is "not on the table."

"How do we make people comfortable? What does social distancing look like in the fall, and what are the best practices and protocols out there? All those things are on the table," he said. "We're constantly going through (these questions) and, again, these things are all fluid. The good thing is we have time to make those decisions."

With the SEC's ban on athletic activities ending May 31, football programs across the conference are already preparing to have their players return to campus as soon as June 1. While the nation's best conference appears to be operating under the assumption football is happening in the fall, other conferences may not be. If that is the case, Bjork said, the SEC and other programs may have to adjust on the fly.

"If you look at natural disasters that do occur around the country, and God forbid when those do occur, those particular programs are impacted and the rest of college sports moves on," he said. "We have to answer the question: at some point, does the rest of college athletics have to be at a standstill? We just don't have clarity on that but we hope there's uniformity. But if there's not, and we're all ready to move forward, I think we need to have the ability to pivot on that."