Cal Football: Nevada Visits the Bay Area This Week to Escape Smoke from Dixie Fire
The Nevada football team has arrived in the Bay Area a bit early for its Sept. 4 season-opening game at Cal.
The Wolf Pack’s visit will be just for the rest of the week, a move necessitated by poor air quality in Reno as a result of the Dixie Fire.
Nevada relocated its fall training camp to Stanford for practices beginning Tuesday. The team will remain there until returning to Reno on Saturday, the school announced.
"We have an open mindset," Nevada coach Jay Norvell told Nevada Sports Net. "There are certain things we can't control. We try our best, but the smoke is one of them and if we get to a certain level, we have to modify. And if it gets to a certain level, we have to shut it down. We're trying to be smart.”
Nevada’s issues extend beyond the bad air. Highly touted quarterback Carson Strong has hardly practiced since recently having his right knee scope following offseason surgery on the same knee. Nevada Sports Net reported last week Strong had participated in just one full practice with Nevada since the spring.
The Wolf Pack has been forced to juggle practice times to work around bad and on Monday changed its practice to an indoor walk-through for the third time. Other practices have been cut short because of smoke settling in around Reno from the Dixie Fire.
The team’s practices at Stanford will be closed to fans and media, the school said.
The team expects to be back in Reno by Saturday night in advance of classes beginning on Monday.
On Tuesday morning the air quality index in Reno was 170. It was 33 at Stanford. AQI readings under 100 are considered acceptable. Ratings up to 150 are considered unhealthy for sensitive groups while ratings between 151 and 200 are considered unhealthy.
Nevada canceled its first fall camp scrimmage last Wednesday because it didn't have enough practice time leading into the session.
Wolf Pack defensive coordinator Brian Ward, who began coaching in 1997, said he’s never experienced anything like this.
"There's always a way to adapt to the weather. I've lived in every tough weather environment from North Dakota to Syracuse, N.Y., to Joplin, Mo., to Tornado Alley in Kansas. We've always found a way to get it done,” he said. “This smoke definitely gives you something to battle. I've never had to deal with this during fall camp.”
Cal certainly can relate to what the Wolf Pack is facing.
The Beas dealt with bad air quality three years ago during the Butte County fires. The 2018 Big Game was postponed for two weeks after the AQI in Berkeley reached 256. The air was so bad at the time the Bears were forced to cancel a basketball game at Haas Pavilion.
The year before, smoky air resulting from the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa limited attendance to 26,244 at Memorial Stadium for the Bears’ 37-3 rout of eighth-ranked Washington State.
The Nevada women’s soccer team spent the past week training at UC Davis.
Cover photo of smoke-filled air in Reno by Andy Barron, RGJ via Imagn Content Services.
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
