Chang Torches the Blazers

Timmy Chang capped his record-setting career in style.

Chang became the first college quarterback to pass for 17,000 yards, throwing for four touchdowns and running for another to lead Hawaii over Alabama Birmingham, 59-40, in the Hawaii Bowl on Friday night.

“We were just defending our home,” Chang said.

The fifth-year senior from Honolulu completed 31 of 46 passes for 405 yards with no interceptions, spoiling the Blazers’ first trip to a bowl game. Co-most valuable player Chad Owens caught eight passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns for Hawaii (8-5), which made its third consecutive appearance in the 3-year-old bowl.

“The offense just drove us crazy,” Blazer Coach Watson Brown said.

Owens also scored on a 59-yard punt return in the decisive third quarter, and teammate Jason Rivers added 11 receptions for 148 yards and a touchdown.

Clinging to a two-point lead, Hawaii scored 17 consecutive points in the third quarter to take a 45-26 lead, and Alabama Birmingham (7-5) never recovered.

On Owens’ spectacular return, he caught the ball at the Hawaii 41, broke a tackle near midfield and streaked down the left sideline and into the end zone. It was his fifth punt return for a score this season.

“No. 2 is as good a player as we’ve played all year,” Brown said.

The senior also made an over-the-shoulder catch on a 15-yard pass from Chang, pushing Hawaii’s lead to 35-26. With that pass, Chang became the first college quarterback to break the 17,000-yard mark for his career. He finished more than 2,000 yards ahead of Ty Detmer, who ranks second on the NCAA list.

Chang’s four-yard scoring run in the fourth secured the victory. He left to a standing ovation with 5:40 remaining.

“I had a couple of tears when the coach told me that I was coming out,” he said.

Chang has NCAA marks for yards passing (17,072), attempts (2,436), completions (1,388), interceptions (80) and total offense (16,910). With 117 touchdown passes, he overtook Danny Wuerffel (114) and Tim Rattay (115), and is second to Detmer (121).

“It went by really fast,” Chang said. “It felt like last year was my freshman year.”

It was the Warriors’ eighth victory in a row at Aloha Stadium. Alabama Birmingham was led by quarterback Darrell Hackney, who completed 31 of 54 passes for 417 yards and two touchdowns.