RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Ian Sample, left, and Chad Mock celebrated after Mock caught a touchdown pass in the second quarter of last night's game at Aloha Stadium.

Warriors in a walk

The Division I-AA Panthers pose no problem for Hawaii's powerful offense

THE message from Hawaii to Eastern Illinois last night was very clear.

Visit any time, but don't expect to stick around long.

The Warriors pounded the Panthers 44-9 last night at Aloha Stadium, pulling the welcome mat out from under the guests early and often in UH's most lopsided win since a 66-7 rout of UTEP in 2001.

The Warriors improved to 2-2, while the Panthers, ranked 20th in I-AA, fell to 2-3. UH, 0-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, hosts WAC opponent Nevada on Saturday.

Tri-captain Samson Satele said Hawaii wanted to establish early that it wasn't going to be a close game.

"They're a good team, but we needed to let them know they couldn't stay with us," the senior center said.

A gathering of 22,480 -- one of the smallest to see UH play at Aloha Stadium -- watched Warriors quarterback Colt Brennan pass for five touchdown passes and 409 yards, all in less than three quarters.

Hawaii amassed 571 total yards, 529 of it passing.

"This is a level we were never on last year," said Brennan, who led the nation in touchdown passes in his first year in June Jones' offense last fall.

Before this season, the Hawaii defense had rarely played this well in the past decade. The Warriors allowed just 291 yards, and that included a breakaway run of 69 by Vincent Webb on short yardage. Webb finished with 117 rushing.

"(Defensive coordinator Jerry) Glanville did a great job of teaching tonight," said inside linebacker Adam Leonard, who led Hawaii with 10 tackles. "Compared to last year, we didn't really get our defense in until midseason."

It was the third time the Warriors beat the Panthers here in as many meetings since 1999 and the most lopsided.

UH dominated from the outset.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii slotback Davone Bess stretched for the end zone, but Eastern Illinois' Ke-Andre Sams tackled him just short.

"We felt we were a much better team than Eastern Illinois, so we had to come out and take it to them early," Brennan said.

Sample caught six passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns in the first three quarters -- all career highs for Sample, who made his first start of the season.

Nate Ilaoa grabbed one touchdown pass and rushed for another.

Brennan's 369 yards through the air in the first half were 5 short of the school record for a half, set by Dan Robinson in 1999.

With 3:29 left in the third quarter, UH led 41-9 and pulled most of its offensive starters, including Brennan.

Inoke Funaki took over at quarterback and completed five of 10 passes for 120 yards.

Brennan attempted passes on UH's first 12 plays, completing seven of them.

"I came in knowing we were going to have to throw it a lot to get to the run," Jones said. "I knew they were pretty athletic in the defensive line and just the schemes were going to make us throw before we could run."

The Panthers closed it to 14-6 when Webb bolted 61 yards on third and 1 all the way to the Hawaii 9. Norris Smith scored, but Zach Yates missed the extra point.

UH came right back with an eight-play, 75-yard drive highlighted by a 32-yard Brennan-to-Sample connection and capped by Ilaoa's touchdown on a 4-yard shovel pass from Brennan.

The Panthers let loose a heavy blitz during the drive, and UH responded by mixing in shovel passes.

"They're good about adjusting to what you do," EIU coach Mark Hutson said. "That's the beauty of the run-and-shoot offense of Mouse Davis and June Jones. They made some great adjustments and they executed their offense tonight."

Leonard Peters' second interception of the season gave UH the ball at its own 38 early in the second quarter, but the Warriors couldn't get anything going. It was one of a season-high three forced turnovers for UH; C.J. Hawthorne and Myron Newberry also intercepted passes.

Hawaii won the turnover battle (three to two) for the first time this year.

While EIU's passing game wasn't very polished, UH did play its best pass defense of the season by far, allowing just 57 yards by air and no scores. The Panthers' longest pass play was 10 yards, and star receiver Micah Rucker was limited to two catches for 17 yards.

Yates knocked through a 43-yard field goal for EIU with 8:23 left in the first half, making it 21-9.

But Brennan's scoring passes of 43 yards to Sample and 18 to Chad Mock knocked out the Panthers before the band left its seats.

Ilaoa's 1-yard run culminating a 62-yard drive opened the scoring after the break.

Dan Kelly kicked a 35-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for the final points.

Backup running back David Farmer took over the snapping duties from Jake Ingram after a fourth failed point-after attempt in three games due to botched snaps occurred in the second quarter. Funaki had replaced punter Kurt Milne as the holder.