Collins Finally Gets a Chance at Nebraska

Nebraska fans finally will get a good look at heralded I-back Thunder Collins.

Collins will start the Pigskin Classic against Texas Christian at Lincoln today while teammate Dahrran Diedrick serves a one-game suspension for his arrest last weekend outside a bar.

“There are a lot of up-sides to Thunder,” Cornhusker Coach Frank Solich said. “He gives you excellent speed and quickness and certainly the ability to break long runs. He’s got very good hands.”

Collins, who attended Manual Arts High, was a fan favorite even before he transferred to Nebraska last year.

He rushed for 1,548 yards and 23 touchdowns in 10 games for East Los Angeles College in 1998. He spent 1999 getting his associate’s degree at West Los Angeles College so he could transfer to Nebraska.

Collins, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound junior, was expected to immediately join the I-back mix last fall, but spent the season near the bottom of the depth chart, getting just 13 carries for 77 yards.

“You’ve got to be ready to go if you’re called upon,” Collins said. “They always say that a year makes you better. Everything I’ve looked at--blocking schemes, running harder, reading defenses--is all better.”

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Oklahoma owns the nation’s longest winning streak, 13 games. Very few doubt it will reach 14 today at Norman, when the No. 3 Sooners play visiting North Carolina.

Tar Heel Coach John Bunting knows that. He just doesn’t buy it.

“It’s a little bit like a David and Goliath to an extent, but I think our players relish that challenge,” said Bunting, making his debut with North Carolina. “Nobody expects us to win except for me, the staff and the guys who sit in this room. That’s fine. I like that challenge.”

Oklahoma learned about winning during its stunning championship run last year. After not winning more than seven games in any of the previous six seasons, the Sooners went 13-0 to claim their seventh national title.

Oklahoma’s defense was outstanding in 2000 and is expected to be strong again, led by linebacker Rocky Calmus and safety Roy Williams. The team might have to rely on its defense while quarterback Nate Hybl settles in as the successor to Heisman Trophy runner-up Josh Heupel.

“I think the best thing about us is that we’re a very confident football team right now, coming off the national championship game,” associate head coach Mike Stoops said. “We hope that . . . we’re just going to keep getting better.”

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San Diego State receiver Ronnie Davenport has been suspended for 11 games by the NCAA for his part in an academic fraud case when he played at California.

Nine games of the suspension are for the number of games he played at Cal before he was declared ineligible, and two games were added as a penalty.

Athletic Director Rick Bay said the university will appeal.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed with the decision,” Davenport said in a statement released by an athletic department spokesman. “I’m extremely anxious to have my case heard by the appeals committee as soon as possible.”

Davenport transferred to San Diego State after playing two seasons at Cal.

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Sixth-ranked Florida State has lost another wide receiver to an injury, the Seminoles’ third in less than two weeks.

Freshman Willie Reid will miss at least six weeks with a broken left leg. Reid, a tailback who moved to receiver last week to bolster the depleted unit, injured his leg while running a post route during practice Thursday.

Tests on Friday revealed a broken fibula.

The Seminoles already had lost starters Robert Morgan and Anquan Boldin for the season with knee injuries.

“I hated to lose Willie Reid. He was one who looked like he was going to be able to fit in,” Coach Bobby Bowden said. “He would have given us some help doing this and that. But all of a sudden he breaks his leg, so that’s another one we hate to happen.”

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Howard W. Fletcher, who coached Northern Illinois to the college division national championship in 1963, has died, the university said. He was 88.