ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii defensive back Ryan Mouton put UNLV away with a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter yesterday.

Triumphant Return

UH wraps up a 2-0 road trip by thrashing UNLV

LAS VEGAS » Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan added another chapter to his book of legends last night at Sam Boyd Stadium, accounting for five touchdowns on a sprained right ankle. UH started slowly but built up steam to blow out a talented but young UNLV team, 49-14.

The UH defense played well after UNLV's first drive of the game gave the Rebels a 7-0 lead. Hawaii scored the next six touchdowns to put the game away in the third quarter.

Brennan rushed for three touchdowns and passed for two others despite a black-and-blue right ankle he turned in practice Friday. He rushed for two 1-yard TDs and another for 3 yards.

Brennan passed for just two touchdowns -- one for 13 yards to Ryan Grice-Mullins and another for 1-yard to Jason Rivers. At one point in the first half, Brennan completed 13 consecutive passes. Overall he completed 26 of 32 passes for 298 yards with no interceptions in just over three quarters. It ended a string of 14 consecutive 300-yard passing games.

"He threw the ball pretty well," said coach June Jones, who added that he doesn't think Brennan will miss next week's game against Charleston Southern because of the ankle. "He can run around and scramble."

Hundreds of Hawaii fans surrounded Brennan and the rest of the team after the game. Nearly 20,000 UH fans -- about half the capacity crowd -- boosted the Warriors.

"They turned it into a home game," Brennan said.

C.J. Hawthorne caught nine passes for 104 yards, and linebacker Solomon Elimimian led UH with 14 tackles. Ryan Mouton intercepted a pass and ran it back 40 yards for a touchdown, giving UH a 42-7 lead late in the third quarter.

The Warriors were scheduled to arrive in Hawaii early this morning, concluding a 12-day, two-game road trip. They return with their mission accomplished.

Hawaii is 3-0 for the first time since 1992, when UH finished the season 11-2 with a WAC title and Holiday Bowl victory.

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Brennan, Warriors run Rebels ragged

Brennan scores three rushing touchdowns and passes for two more on a sore ankle

LAS VEGAS » Colt Brennan will be sore for a few days, but the Hawaii quarterback doesn't mind.

"I'll be rehabbing this bad boy this week," said Brennan, as he displayed his black-and-blue right ankle. It probably swelled up on the flight home this morning from Las Vegas, where the No. 24 Warriors smoked UNLV 49-14.

A Sam Boyd Stadium sellout crowd of 38,125 -- around half cheering for Hawaii -- saw the Warriors improve to 3-0 and the Rebels fall to 1-2. It is the first time Hawaii has won its first three since 1992, when UH went 11-2.

The Warriors will probably climb the rankings today after successfully negotiating a two-game, 12-day road trip.

"I told you guys that these two road (games) will be the catalyst to our season," coach June Jones said. "Hopefully I'm going to be right about that. We had great practices in Houston (where the Warriors stayed last week after winning 45-44 in overtime at LaTech). We didn't have any jet lag today. It made a big difference."

They did, however, have a wounded leader in Brennan, and Jones said he was worried about whether the record-setting passer would play.

But after taking a painkiller, Brennan inflicted some serious damage on the Rebels, rushing for three touchdowns and passing for two others.

ASSOCIATED PRESS UNLV defenders Will Chandler, bottom, and Daryl Forte pushed Hawaii running back Kealoha Pilares out of bounds.

"I came here and screwed around before practice started, jumped and came down wrong on my ankle," Brennan said. "I heard a pop and all of a sudden I couldn't practice. The trainers did a great job with me last night and this morning. They shot it up and I wanted to come out here and make a statement."

The Warriors defense was solid after allowing 44 points at Louisiana Tech the previous week.

But UNLV led 7-0 in what looked like a rerun of the way the Bulldogs took control of the tempo against the Warriors the week before and built a 14-0 lead.

"They gave us a lot of trouble on the first drive," said linebacker Solomon Elimimian, who led UH with 14 tackles. "We had to slow down and calm down and do our responsibilities. They use multiple formations and try to make the defense make mistakes. They spread us out."

One adjustment UH made was often using a three-man front and five defensive backs to counter UNLV's quickness on offense and penchant for the perimeter. Outside linebacker Adam Leonard was in on 11 tackles and Desmond Thomas, the fifth DB, participated in six stops.

"In the first quarter we were feeling our way," Jones said. "Then I'm glad the guys got rolling. It's tough to win on the road. I'm proud of the guys."

C.J. Hawthorne was the game-high receiver with nine catches for 104 yards. The converted cornerback said winning by one point at Ruston, La., last week was a good bonding experience, but blowouts like last night's should be the norm for the Warriors.

"I think it is important," Hawthorne said. "This is what we're capable of or more every week. It is important to make this kind of a statement."

Brennan and others said the Warriors were well versed on UNLV's schemes on both sides of the ball.

"We spent the whole week holed up in a hotel room with nothing to do but prepare," he said.

Early on it seemed the Rebels had done their homework well, too. They seemed ready to execute the formula to have a chance against the nation's most prolific passing offense: control the clock, score and keep Brennan on the sideline.

But the problem for UNLV is it did it for only one series.

"I thought early we tackled pretty well and kept them from breaking some of the draws, screens and short passes," Rebels coach Mike Sanford said. "We kept them controlled early on, but as the game went on we let them out of there a little bit too much."

ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii receiver Malcolm Lane caught a pass from backup quarterback Tyler Graunke for an 81-yard, fourth-quarter score.

The Warriors came back to tie it on a steady 11-play drive that featured six running plays, including Brennan's sneak for the final 12 inches.

Brennan repeated that deed at 13:58 of the second quarter, giving UH the lead. Kealoha Pilares' 41-yard run with a short pass from Brennan put the ball at the 1.

Pilares led UH with 62 rushes on 11 carries, both career highs for the freshman and individual season highs for UH, which rarely ran the ball in its previous two games.

The defense stepped up with another stop, pushing UNLV back to its own 20. Hawaii took advantage of a shanked punt to set up at the Rebels 34. Three plays after Brennan found Jason Rivers for 21 yards, it was Brennan, rolling to his left, to locate Ryan Grice-Mullins for 13 and a 21-7 lead.

Hawaii continued to roll after halftime. First, Brennan's 3-yard run capped a drive featuring six complete passes in a row.

Brennan's 2-yard pass to Jason Rivers made it 35-7 with 1:27 left in the third quarter. The Warriors went 88 yards on 10 plays, with Brennan hitting Hawthorne for a 46-yarder to start the drive.

On the next play from scrimmage, Ryan Mouton intercepted Dixon's pass after it went off receiver Casey Flair's hands. Mouton ran it back untouched 40 yards for the UH defense's first touchdown of the season.

Tyler Graunke hit Malcolm Lane for an 81-yard touchdown late in the game after UNLV backup quarterback Omar Clayton ran 31 yards for a score against UH's second-string defenders.