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HONOLULU (Ticker) -- Timmy Chang couldn't have written a better conclusion to his record-setting career.

The all-time passing yardage leader, Chang threw for 405 yards and accounted for five touchdowns in his final collegiate game, leading Hawaii to a 59-40 victory over Alabama-Birmingham in the Hawaii Bowl.

Finishing his career with 17,072 yards, Chang connected on 31-of-46 passes with four touchdown tosses. He also had a four-yard TD scamper in the fourth quarter to earn co-Most Valuable Player honors.

"If you could have told me they were recruiting me out of high school five years ago that it would end up this way, then I would have been ready to sign my freshman year of high school," Chang said. "I'm gonna miss these guys, the coaches, the players; they're like a family to me."

"I don't really believe what he has just accomplished will ever, ever be broken again," Hawaii coach June Jones said. "He was really focused and he's just a competitive kid. It was good to see him run one in."

Chang came out firing, answering a 51-yard TD from Darrell Hackney to Roddy White with with a 74-yard bomb to Jason Rivers, who had 11 catches for 141 yards, just over four minutes into the first quarter.

Playing in their first bowl game, the Blazers were up to task in the first half of the shootout, getting touchdown runs from Dan Burks and Norris Drinkard to go into the half trailing, 28-26.

But Chang connected with co-MVP Chad Owens for a 15-yard strike early in the third. Owens then returned a punt 59 yards to make the score 42-26 with seven minutes left in the quarter.

The senior finished with eight catches for 114 yards and three touchdowns, bringing his total to 12 in his final three contests.

"It's one thing to make it to the bowl game, but it's another for us to win it," Owens said. "I don't think it's really hitting me yet that it's over, maybe tonight or tomorrow. But when it does, it's gonna hurt. This was a great win for us seniors."

"Chad in his last three games had 30 catches, 10 touchdowns and two punt returns for touchdowns," Jones said. "I've never heard of anything like that. And they were against three really good teams. He'll go to the National Football League and they'll say that he's too small and not fast enough, and he'll do the same thing there."

Hackney had a stellar performance for UAB, throwing for 416 yards and two scores with an interception.

"The weakest part of our team has been our pass defense," UAB coach Watson brown said. "The difference in the game was the third quarter; we couldn't get out of the hole. We had to go from a two-dimensional team to a passing team, but we played hard. Their offense and those two guys (Chang and Owens) drove us crazy."