Some may have felt a 5.1 magnitude earthquake that was recorded Sunday morning in northwest North Carolina, but college football fans across the country felt the impacts of a different kind of seismic activity that registered in San Francisco and Chicago Tuesday.

No, those two cities didn't experience an actual earthquake this week. They do, however, headquarter the Big Ten and Pac-12, which canceled their fall college football seasons Tuesday in a decision that sent shock waves across the industry of college sports.

It has been the climax, so far, of a tumultuous week in college football which began with rumblings over the weekend that the two conferences were strongly considering axing the fall season after the MAC (Mid-American Conference) became the first FBS league to cancel its season Saturday.

In response to the rumors, the ACC said it planned to move forward with an attempt to play this fall. The stance fell in line with the SEC, forming a 50-50 split in the Power Five in an approach to a fall season.

All eyes shifted to the Big 12, who seemingly became the swing vote of whether or not the Power Five conferences would attempt a fall season. By Tuesday evening, reports surfaced that the Big 12 would move forward with an attempt to play football this fall.

It was later confirmed Wednesday morning when the conference released a nine-game conference only schedule beginning Sept. 26, which, for all intents and purposes, preserved the possibility of having any college football this fall.

"Ultimately, our student-athletes have indicated their desire to compete in the sports they love this season," said Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby in a release. "It is up to all of us to deliver a safe, medically sound, and structured academic and athletic environment for accomplishing that outcome.”

The Big Ten and Pac-12 have both shared a desire to play football in the spring, but a postponement to early 2021 presents its own set of challenges.

While the hope is that community coronavirus cases will drop enough by 2021 to facilitate a somewhat 'normal' football season in the spring, opponents of postponing to spring have questioned whether or not playing two seasons in one calendar year is truly a safer alternative for players. As of Thursday morning, Las Vegas odds suggested that a spring season is unlikely despite the stated intent of the two conferences.

Although the ACC stated its intent to move forward with a fall season this week, the uncertainty in college football was felt within the NC State program. On Wednesday morning, NC State director of athletics Boo Corrigan met with the Wolfpack football team and fielded questions from players about how this week's news will impact them.

“You’re sitting there thinking you are going to play, and the next day you are not, then you are and then you’re not,” NC State head football coach Dave Doeren noted. “It’s hard.”

Doeren added in his press availability Wednesday that he speaks with Corrigan and Fred Demarest, NC State's Senior Associate Athletic Director, on a daily basis to gauge the situation in the ACC.

Meanwhile, the shock waves continued Thursday morning in the ACC. Reports surfaced early Thursday morning that Boston College would not schedule a replacement non-conference. The Eagles were originally scheduled to play Ohio in the ACC opponent release in late July, but the game was scrapped since the Bobcats are a member of the MAC which canceled its fall season Saturday.

Then a potential crisis popped up in Tallahassee Thursday morning when Florida State wide receiver Warren Thompson questioned the integrity of the Seminole football program's coronavirus protocol in a tweet in which he alleged the team leadership of lying about his health and the health of other players. The tweet was shared by two other members of the Florida State football team.

Thompson did not partake in Flordia State's football practice Thursday morning, which is when the tweet was shared. Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell was first informed of the situation minutes before denying the alleged lack of transparency with coronavirus testing in his media availability following the Thursday morning practice.

Team captain and senior defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, who made headlines earlier this summer for calling out Norvell on his handling of the social unrest following George Floyd's death, quickly defended the program's safety protocols in a tweet Thursday morning with the concluding message, "Let's play some football."

The only thing certain in these "uncertain times" is that more mini-crises will continue to pop-up regularly in what has undoubtedly become the most unprecedented offseason in the history of college football.

Opponents of playing football this fall will continue to point to these issues as evidence that the season should be canceled, while proponents of moving forward with the season will soldier on in finding the silver lining.

Hang on tight.

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