Hawaii head coach June Jones was the only person who could figure out how to stop quarterback Colt Brennan: take him out of the game.

Brennan passed for 369 yards and threw five touchdown passes – in the first half – and led the Warriors to a 44-9 win against the Panthers on Saturday in Honolulu.

He finished the game 30 of 41 for 409 yards and was pulled in the third quarter.

“He’s more athletic than he was on film,” said Eastern head coach Mark Hutson. “Very accurate. His receiving corps was outstanding.”

Brennan is second in the nation in passing yards per game.

He and Inoke Funaki combined to outpass Eastern 529 yards to 57 yards.

Hawaii controlled the game from the first drive.

The Warriors took the opening kickoff and marched 69 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead with only two minutes, 12 seconds gone in the game.

“We knew they were explosive,” Hutson said.

Every play on the drive was a pass play, which was a theme to the first half.

Hawaii only had one running play in the half.

They were ahead 21-6 after the first quarter.

A 9-yard run by Norris Smith got the Panthers on the board midway through the first quarter.

The run happened one play after Vincent Webb Jr. put Eastern into the red zone for the first time in the game.

Webb burst through a hole on the left side of the line on third-and-short at the Panthers’ own 22-yard line.

After clearing the line of scrimmage, the blitzing Warriors had nobody behind the line of scrimmage and Webb scampered 69 yards before being brought down by Kenny Patton.

“I was just upset the guy ran me down,” Webb said.

Webb finished the game with 117 yards on 11 carries.

A 17-yard run in the second quarter moved him into fourth place on the Panthers’ all-time rushing list, passing Jamie Jones.

“(Webb’s) been a steady player his whole career,” Hutson said.

He is now 202 yards behind J.R. Taylor, who was a senior in Webb’s red-shirt freshman season.

“I’m humbled about the whole situation,” he said. “It’s a great honor to be within the top 5 in career rushing at EIU.”

Zach Yates’ field goal in the second quarter pulled the Panthers to within 21-9 but Eastern would not score again.

Yates’ streak of kicking a field goal extended to 10 games with the score.

Wide receiver Ryan Voss didn’t play because of an injured shoulder.

Hutson said his arm’s mobility wasn’t to the point where the team wanted it to be but leaving Voss out of the game was also precautionary.