Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 23

2002 ROSE BOWL PREVIEW an Nebraska vs. Miami Mr Kickoff: Thursday, 7 p.m. In DocaHana journal Star Sunday, December 30, 2001 LnJ TV: ABC (7, 8) Radio: KUN 1400, KFGE 98.1, KFOR 1240 www.joumaIstar.com Page design: Karl Vogel Thunder rumbles over hometown LA native Collins adjusts to NU system i ing for you, and instead they lay you out." Collins was in grade school thea Now, after a stint in a probation camp for troubled teens, after thotn-sands of rushing yards in high school and junior college, after a sometimes trying adjustment period at Nebraska, Collins apparently has reached a comfort zone as a Husker. "Thunder has really grown and matured," Nebraska running backs coach Dave Gillespie said. "He sees the big picture.

For me, it's been a thrill to watch. It was just a matter of him learning to be focused, cUsck plined and accountable." After appearing in only three games last season as a sophomore, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Collins this season ranks third on the team in both rushing (647 yards) and receiv- See COLLINS, Page 2D Bowl national championship game Thursday in Pasadena Only family and those close to the program are allowed inside. Oden Craig gets to watch the workouts, because her 22-year-old son is the Huskers' flashy backup I-back. "He always dreamed he'd play in either the LA Coliseum or the Rose Bowl," she said. That 9-foot wall at USC rarely stopped Collins and his childhood friends from sneaking inside and playing tackle football on the plush green grass, the kind of grass that's difficult to find in the working-class neighborhoods near campus.

'We used to play really big games," Collins recalled, smiling broadly. "We're talking about 20 people on each team. We all had the same clothes on, you know, so you'd be running with the ball, and you're thinking somebody's block CURT McKEEVER Journal Star Staff Writer Coker has a winner of recipe LOS ANGELES You remember that cartoon Underdog? University of Miami football coach Larry Coker reminds me a lot of Simon Bar Sinister, the main nemesis of Pure Polly Purebred's dream pooch. OK, so maybe he has to work on becoming more evil. Bar Sinister THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Los Angeles native Thunder Collins, shown stretching before Thursday's practice, is living out a dream finally playing a game in the Rose Bowl.

mamr -4 1 BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE Lincoln Journal Star LOS ANGELES She didn't know where her oldest son generated his boundless energy, but he was rarely in the house, always on the loose, most of the time with a ball of some sort in his hands. Often it was a football. Thunder Collins would run over to the practice fields at the University of Southern California, mere blocks from his family's home in notorious South Central LA "Football has always been first' to him' said Collins' mother, Sonia Oden Craig. "I always told him that if he studied his schoolwork as much as he played football, he'd be a rocket scientist" A 9-foot wall a fortress of sorts surrounds the practice fields at USC.

This past week, the wall has shielded fourth-ranked Nebraska as it prepared for the Rose For those who played in the 1941 Jones, a ticket stub, a newspaper vs.r would never have stuck around in a chilly Southern California drizzle, glad to talk shop with a pack of strangers like Coker did following the Hurricanes' COKER practice at the LA Coliseum Saturday. But if you're a follower of Nebraska rr- very much the underdog in Thursday's Rose Bowl you should be wary, because, oh how Coker can cook up a plan. Think about this: Coker's reward for ending a 22-year stint as an college assistant coach was to give up a 322-victory edge to Perm State's Joe Patemo. On top of that, his debut would take place in Joe Pa's back yard. Folks, that would be like the neighborhood bully issuing you a challenge, but requesting that you come knock on his door when you were ready to take the beating.

Well, Coker and his squad showed up and by halftime had the Nittany Lions in a choke hold ready to say "Uncle." Miami's 30-0 advantage represented the largest deficit a Paterno team had ever faced at home after 30 minutes of action. More importantly for Miami, it represented that Coker, the Hurricanes' new captain, would be quite capable of steering the Hurricanes' magnificent ship. And yet today, there are still some people who will have you believe this vast collection of NFL talent, one victory away from securing Miami's fifth national championship, is all the doing of Butch Davis. After all, he was the one rubbing most of the polish on a program tarnished by the loss of 30 scholarships from 1995-97. But if you think the Hurricanes would have automatically been in the same port right now had Davis not left to become the Cleveland See McKEEVER, Page 2D Inside PAGE 4D First frame: Former Husker QB Van Brownson recalls the 1969 Sun Bowl, a win that started NU's record streak of bowl appear- ances.

Happy to be here: The Rose Bowl is more special to Miami defensive end Jerome McDougle, who almost died during summer workouts. TiTBltf THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Syracuse running back James Mun-gro (23) sprints away from the Kansas State defense on a 65-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of Saturday's lnsight.com Bowl. PAGES 6D-7D Bad day for Big 12: Iowa holds off Texas Tech and Syracuse crushes Kansas State, leaving the Big 12 just 2-3 In bowls this season. 2i -Ml memories of Nebraska's first bowl game are still crystal clear thanks to mementos a picture of Coach Biff Rose Bowl or were in attendance, the and a copy of the game program if. 1 4, Journal Star ftsS Memories of "41 Rose Bowl sMvividforfo 'It was a hell of a thrill for a bunch of Nebraska guys like Herman Rohrig, a senior who played for NU in 1941 Rose Bowl MJ WILUAMSLmcoln Journal Star weren't Stanford's selectioa The second-ranked Indians, who had the right to choose their foe, opted for Minnesota, the eventual national champion.

The Gophers, who had defeated Nebraska 13-7 in the season opener, declined the offer, instead endorsing the No. 7-ranked Cornhuskers. Rohrig was plenty appreciative of the Gophers gesture and the chance his team was about to receive. "It was a hell of a thrill for a bunch of Nebraska gup like us," said Rohrig, one of 41 Nebraska natives on the 42-man roster. "It was quite a surprise we got in because there weren't very many bowl games back then." There were actually only four bowl games back then the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton bowls.

Nebraska had posted one-loss seasons in 1937 and 1939, but failed to gain a bowl berth. Opposition from school educators stood in the way of many teams traveling to See 1941, Page 2D BY JOSHUA BUECHLER Lincoln Journal Star Imagine a Nebraska football team going 8-1 and winning a conference championship. Now, imagine a Comhusker team with those credentials not expecting a bowl invite. Welcome to 1940, a year when war was on the horizon and postseason play in college football was a rarity. It was also a year when the Cornhuskers, Big Six Conference Champions, forever engraved their names in the history of Nebraska football by participating in the 1941 Rose BowL Today, it is hard for many to picture the hysteria surrounding the Nebraska campus when it was announced NU.

would play Stanford on Jan. 1, 1941, in the "granddaddy of them all." For the members of the storied team, it comes rather easily. "We were studying for finals and it came out on the radio," recalls Herman Rohrig, a senior on the team. "Naturally, we got rid of the books in a hurry. We were just tickled to death." The players weren't the only ones who dropped their studies in celebration of Nebraska's first-ever bowl bid.

All classes were canceled the next day. Students paraded down Street, and as Ed Schwartzkopf remembers, "marched into anything that was open." "I don't reach highs and lows very often, but I do remember riding on the back of a large truck as it drove around town," said George "Bus" Knight, the backup quarterback, Fred Meier, a linebacker and center on the team, remembered students fearing the reaction of some of the faculty, especially an old ROTC teacher who was known for his stem behavior. "Everybody stood and waited for his reaction," Meier said. "He just said, 'Let's go West' Although Nebraska ended up losing the game 21-13, the 1941 Rose Bowl was dubbed not only the best in the bowl's history, but among the best in college football's past, as well Much like this year's Nebraska football team, the 1940 group wasn't the favorite to play in the Rose Bowl. Even after Texas knocked Texas out of the running with an upset on Thanksgiving Day, the Cornhuskers When the Huskers made the long trip to Pasadena, for the 1941 Rose Bowl, Wayne Blue (left), George "Bus" Knight (center) and Herman Rohrig were on the team.

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