College football: Poor air quality from wildfires threatening Cal-Stanford

The status of the Big Game between Stanford and California on Saturday is in doubt because of poor air quality from wildfires in Northern California.

Cal says no decision has been made about the game in Berkeley, but officials are monitoring the air quality.

UC Davis officials say they are monitoring the air quality to determine whether the Aggies can play their annual rivalry game against Sacramento State on Saturday as well.

Cal canceled its basketball game against Detroit Mercy on Thursday night because the Air Quality Index was well over the threshold of 200 — the very unhealthy range. A significant amount of smoke infiltrated Haas Pavilion, leading to the cancellation.

San Francisco postponed its basketball game Friday night against Arizona State because of unhealthy air quality as well. The air quality in the Bay Area got significantly worse Thursday as a result of the Camp Fire about 150 miles north in Butte County that has been burning for more than a week.

Bowl streak on line

Florida State is battling recent history as it looks to extend one of its most cherished streaks.

The Seminoles (4-6, 2-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) must knock off No. 22 Boston College (7-3, 4-2) on Saturday and then No. 15 Florida (7-3) to extend their bowl streak, which dates to 1982. While Florida State has dug a hole for itself, the roadblocks ahead are daunting — the Seminoles are 0-7 against ranked teams since the start of the 2017 season.

“It’s important to us,” coach Willie Taggart said. “It’s important to our players, it’s important to our fan base, it’s important to the teams that came before us that we keep it going and we talked about it as a team and our guys understand what’s at stake, it’s important for our seniors to leave here and not be that senior class that didn’t go to a bowl game.”

The Seminoles’ bowl streak began in December 1982 when they were invited to the Gator Bowl and defeated West Virginia.

They have gone to a bowl in 36 straight seasons, including a 14-year run of top-five finishes from 1987-2000 under coach Bobby Bowden.

The streak has had some close calls, including last season as Florida State had to rally in November to make a run to a bowl game. The Seminoles were 3-6 before they defeated Delaware State, Florida and Louisiana Monroe to become bowl-eligible.

LSU, Miles settle

Louisiana State and Les Miles have completed a $1.5-million lump-sum settlement that relieves the university of paying its former coach an additional $5 million through 2023.

Vice chancellor and director of athletics Joe Alleva says the agreement allows both parties to “move on.”

Miles was fired four games into the 2016 season, but was due a buyout of around $12.9 million at the time. LSU was able to pay Miles’ buyout in installments over about eight years, but the settlement saves LSU money in the long term while removing any disincentives for Miles to pursue another college coaching job immediately.