Suddenly, after nearly a quarter-century of ownership, the burden of the unwanted record had been lifted. A black mark in the record book since 1980, a season before Chang was born, was as good as erased.

Herrmann still can't tell you if Chang had broken Ty Detmer's career passing yardage record of 15,031 yards or not that night — Chang needs 14 yards against Louisiana Tech Saturday— but he knows who is no longer saddled with the interception mark. "Nobody knows who is in second place, so I guess my name won't be coming up anymore," Herrmann said.

The way it unfolded, "was kind of funny, really," Herrmann said. "I was coming home from being out Friday night and I was just flipping (channels) and happened to turn the game on. Actually, I flipped it on right when they said, 'Well, Timmy Chang has just tied Mark Herrmann's record,' so I was a little bit shocked."

And, hooked.

"I had no idea he was that close to the record, so I kind of watched the rest of it to see what happened," Herrmann said.

Three minutes of play later, Herrmann had his happy ending when Chris Barrios picked off Chang's pass. "It is nice to get that off my back," Herrmann said. "It is not that big of a deal really, but it is not a record that you want to hold on to and cherish. It doesn't bother me that it is gone now."

When Herrmann set the record in 1980, it was not allowed to slip silently into the records books. Not when his quarterback coach with the Colts, Zeke Bratkowski, had held it for 27 years.

"He was very happy that I had passed him and he made that pretty clear," Herrmann said. "In training camp he (said), 'Oh, by the way, you took me out of the record book. I'm very happy about that.' "

Herrmann got a running start toward the record when he was thrown into action from the second quarter of the 1977 season opener, starting every game thereafter, and was intercepted 27 times as a freshman. "We threw the ball a heckuva lot, more than anybody in the Big Ten, and didn't have much of a running attack the first couple of years," Herrmann recalled. "My first year was kind of on-the-job training."

When he broke Bratkowski's record, Herrmann said he figured it was his for life. "Somebody would have to play a lot and throw the ball a lot, so I figured it would be a rare instance that somebody would have those combinations and still have a chance to catch me."

Enter Chang, who has thrown 951 more passes than Herrmann. Chang played part of five seasons (including an injury redshirt year), had the "benefit" of the exemption allowing UH an extra game each season and the 2002 NCAA rule change that allows schools to count bowl game statistics.

"We winged the ball around a lot and I'm sure that's the case with Chang," Herrmann said. "When you throw the ball a lot, you're going to have a fair amount of interceptions. The main thing is the (career) yardage record Chang is setting. I wouldn't be too concerned about having it (the interception record). It hasn't changed my life at all."

But it will change how he now goes about some of his duties. As the director of education programs for the NCAA, Herrmann frequently speaks to school and community groups. "I mention that I once held a few records that were broken by Drew Brees. And, then, I usually say the only one I still hold is for (career) interceptions and everybody gets a big kick out of it.

"Now, I guess I'll have to talk about something else."