Chang, Hawaii bowl over Blazers

HONOLULU – 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 went 31 of 46 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 TDs for Hawaii (8-5), which made its third straight appearance in the 3-year-old bowl.

“The offense just drove us crazy,” Blazers 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 TD.

Clinging to a two-point lead, Hawaii scored 17 straight points in the third to take a 45-26 lead, and UAB (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 for a touchdown. It was his fifth punt return for a score this season and his third TD of the game.

“No. 2 (Owens) is as good a player as we’ve played all year,” Brown said. “He’s the heart and soul of this team.”

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 4-yard TD run in the fourth sealed 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 owns NCAA marks for yards passing (17,072), attempts (2,436), completions (1,388), interceptions (80) and total offense (16,910). With 117 TD passes, he overtook Danny Wuerffel (114) and Tim Rattay (115), and is second all-time to Detmer (121).

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

Chang threw for 4,258 yards this season, with a career-best 38 TDs.