The momentum for a college football season this fall may have hit another bump in the road.

On Thursday, Yahoo Sports was one of many news outlets to report that the University of Southern California (USC) has sent out a message to students telling them to prepare for a largely-virtual fall semester due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in California. A message was sent out on Wednesday night from the school.

USC provost Charles F. Zukoski and senior vice president David Wright sent out the following message, suggesting that students take online classes this fall:

Given the continuing safety restrictions and limited densities permissible on campus, our undergraduate students primarily or exclusively will be taking their courses online in the fall term, and on-campus housing and activities will be limited. While not what we hoped, we are now recommending all undergraduates take their courses online, and reconsider living on or close to campus this semester. We are continuing with limited in-person, on-campus activity because we believe we can keep students, researchers, staff, and faculty safe with our low-density plan.

Allowing students to return to campus was a big step for the prospect of a college football season this fall. However, if more schools decide to plan for a mostly-virtual semester this fall, it could pose problems for the season.

Hosting practices, traveling and playing games without students on campus would be a bad look for many colleges.

There have been no final decisions made at this time. It could boil down to a conference-by-conference, possibly state-by-state, decision. More information and final decisions are expected to come sometime this month.