PROVO — All-time. It has a nice ring to it.
So does Touchdown Curtis Brown.
It took BYU senior Curtis Brown all of two carries against New Mexico on Saturday to run past Jamal Willis and firmly plant himself into BYU's record book as the school's all-time leading rusher.
A confident, hard-working guy whose cherubic face is usually stuck in full smile, Brown has a football gait with a traditional forward lean.
When he speaks of his teammates, he's confident as an Amway salesman. He isn't the biggest or the swiftest ever seen in a Cougar uniform, but when Brown left LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, he was the school's first 3,000-yard rusher.
In BYU's 42-17 win, Brown had 13 carries for 124 yards and one touchdown. He also caught a 9-yard TD pass. With two games left — at Utah next Saturday and the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 21 — Brown has 3,056 career yards, surpassing Willis' mark of 2,970.
Brown's romp into the record book took place just minutes after the Cougars received the opening kickoff, the sixth play of the game, his second carry.
Dramatically, Brown simply ripped off his longest run of the season, a 49-yard sprint into the end zone standing up, and the record was his.
"Every carry I try to picture what will happen," Brown said.
New Mexico's 3-3-5 stacked the side BYU was supposed to attack with the handoff to Brown. Then, Brown saw the Lobos do something, reacting to what the Cougars did. A reaction, a false read, and he knew he could get a big play.
"The thing that threw them off is when I went in motion," Brown said. "I saw how they adjusted to the motion and I knew if I could get past the line and into the secondary, past the first level, it would be for a big gain. And then it would be on me."
Sure enough, a lane opened up and Brown hit it in full stride. Once he flew by the line of scrimmage, he caught Lobo defenders standing, and they could not adjust, take an angle or run fast enough to catch him.
"The offensive line opened it up, Nate Meikle got a great fake and the receivers blocked," Brown said. "Everyone's always making fun of me because of my speed so I said to myself, if I get open, I can't get caught."
A 7,000-yard rusher at Paraclete High in California, Brown had a 217-yard rushing game as a Cougar freshman at Utah State. His career at BYU has been steady, although devoid of a championship or any records of merit until Saturday. In high school, he was often overlooked when newspapers and coaching panels dealt out praise.
That's why his mother, Cheryl Brown, was especially proud of her son. Standing on the field after the game, waiting to talk to Curtis, she didn't mind pointing it out, in a humble matronly way.
"The good guy won in the end," said the mother. "So many times I've felt growing up in Southern California, a lot of people who played his position at other schools got a lot of recognition and he never got any. That he got it when it mattered tonight, that means everything."
It certainly did for Brown and 25 seniors, the backbone of BYU's 22nd league championship, the 14th outright.
Like 25 other seniors this day, Brown stood out as a representative of a group that delivered on demand every week during an undisputed Mountain West Conference championship campaign that stands 7-0 and 9-2 overall heading into a rivalry clash with the Utes after Turkey Day.
Brown's group of seniors took its share of lumps over the years, but seasons of turning the other cheek at BYU are over, according to Brown.
"With coach Bronco Mendenhall, and what he's brought to this program, this is just the beginning of what you can expect every year from now on," Brown said. "We can get 11 wins this year, and next year they'll do the same."
"Curtis has had a phenomenal career," said BYU offensive line coach Jeff Grimes. "He's made my job easier, that's for sure. As a line coach, you love having a guy who will runs physical and run the thing down field. He's a warrior and in a lot of ways. He's the heart of our team. His leadership and toughness and his contribution have been a major part of this championship as anything."
His position coach, Lance Reynolds, who also coached Willis, saluted the current star before he left the field.
"It's just been a storybook career, all-time great and he finished it in style," said Reynolds. "We're delighted for him, grateful for him and the rest of the team. It's a big deal."
E-mail: harmon@desnews.com