Brown Back on Top at Colorado St.

Leonice Brown broke into the open field--again.

A 69-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. A 64-yard gain in the fourth. The Colorado State fullback finished with a career-high 191 yards in 17 carries in a 41-16 victory over Utah State in Ft. Collins, Colo., last week.

“It felt really good; it’s been a long time,” said the 5-foot-11, 192-pound senior from San Fernando High. “It was a good day. It would have been an incredible day for me, but I hardly played in the second half. When the coaches look at the game film, they should see that I could have gone for 260 or 270.”

Actually, Brown hopes Coach Sonny Lubick and his staff decide to make him No. 1 again.

Two years ago, Brown gained 1,056 yards as the Rams’ starting tailback in former Coach Earle Bruce’s wishbone attack.

But Bruce was fired after the 1992 season and Lubick switched to an inside running attack and moved Brown to fullback. By mid-season, Brown--fighting an injury and struggling with the inside game--lost his starting job to E.J. Watson, The Times’ San Diego County offensive player of the year in 1991.

Brown suffered a separated right shoulder in the fifth game against Kansas. He returned to action the next week, wearing a brace, but severe pain sent him to the bench early in most games. He finished the season with 485 yards, averaging only 3.3 yards a carry.

Watson erupted for 210 yards in the sixth game against Fresno State and excelled thereafter. Watson closed out the ’93 season with 170 yards at Texas El Paso and 159 at Wyoming. He opened the ’94 season with 187 yards at Air Force. Brown carried three times for nine yards in that game. The No. 1 fullback job was Watson’s.

Brown was feeling down and out. Lubick tried to encourage him.

“I told Leonice not to worry,” the coach said. “His chance would come. In our offense, we’re going to need more than one running back.”

Before Colorado State took the field against Utah State, Watson complained about infected feet. One look from the team trainer and Watson was taken to a hospital--in uniform--with a serious athlete’s foot infection. Watson spent two days in the hospital.

Brown got the start and broke into the open field on his 69-yard run 76 seconds into the game.

“I jumped to the right and made a guy miss on the line of scrimmage,” said Brown, who was running off tackle. “I headed for the sideline and then I split the safeties. They got caught in a blitz and I was gone.”

Ram coaches slapped Brown on the back and praised him after the game. Now if they’ll just give him back his job. . . .

“I’m back to normal,” Brown said. “I’m just waiting for the opportunity.”

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Treated like losers: On the West Coast, critics were ridiculing Stanford’s defense for allowing 41 points in a tie against Northwestern last week. In the Midwest, Big Ten Conference officials were apologizing for blowing a call that cost Northwestern a victory.

For Wildcat junior tight end Shane Graham (Thousand Oaks), it was just another chapter in 23 years of disappointment at Northwestern. The Wildcats haven’t had a winning season since 1971.

“The guy fumbled on the two-yard-line,” Graham said of Stanford running back Mike Mitchell, who lost control of the ball before he crossed the goal line but was awarded a touchdown.

Big Ten officials said Monday they should have ruled a touchback after a Northwestern player recovered the ball in the end zone.

“I don’t know if Stanford is as bad as people say,” Graham said of a team that allowed 465.4 yards per game last season. “They are more of a read-and-react defense. But we ran the ball for over 150 yards against Notre Dame (two weeks ago).

“One thing we’re trying to rectify is the lack of respect we get. We gotta prove week in and week out that we’re good.”

That’s a tough task at Northwestern. The Wildcats are 0-1-1 this season, own the second-longest losing steak in NCAA history (34 games from 1979-82) and haven’t won more than four games in a season since 1971.

Graham is 6-6, 260 pounds, claims to run a 4.88 40-yard dash and has two receptions this year. He was recruited to play tackle by Notre Dame, Michigan and Texas, along with every Pacific 10 Conference school. A guaranteed job at tight end is what prompted Graham to sign a letter of intent with Northwestern.

The team is desperate for victories, and Big Ten officials aren’t helping; they unintentionally robbed the Wildcats in 1993, wrongly letting time expire before Sam Valenzisi kicked an apparent game-winning field goal against Minnesota.

“We’ve got to fight through (the adversity),” Graham said. “I’ve been in this system two years. It’s been fun, but I’m tired of being close. I want to go over the top and go to a bowl game.”

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Around the country: Running back Ontiwaun Carter (Kennedy) and wide receiver Richard Dice (Alemany) accounted for four of five Arizona touchdowns and 299 of the team’s 561 yards in a 44-0 rout of New Mexico State last week.

Dice had five receptions for 150 yards and scoring catches of 57 and 38 yards. Carter, who scored on runs of five and seven yards, carried 18 times for 149 yards.

California wide receiver Iheanyi Uwaezuoke (Harvard-Westlake) had seven catches for 88 yards, all in the first half of a 22-20 loss at San Diego State. Uwaezuoke’s eight-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter gave Cal a 14-7 lead. Aztec quarterback Tim Gutierrez (Santa Clara) completed 25 of 43 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns. Peter Holt (Antelope Valley High) had field goals of 22, 21 and 32 yards, the last of which won the game with 3 minutes 22 seconds left.