It was Brennan's third five-touchdown game in a row, and fifth in the past six games.

Brennan completed 31 of 38 passes without an interception. He extended his streak of passes without an interception to 168.

The outcome also vaulted the Warriors into sole possession of second place in the Western Athletic Conference. The Warriors, who have won five in a row, improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the WAC.

The Warriors are assured of a berth in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl if they finish with a winning regular season. They can accomplish that goal with a victory in Saturday's road game against Utah State.

UH's Ross Dickerson took the opening kickoff and ran 100 yards for a touchdown. The Warriors then scored touchdowns on their next seven possessions.

The victory came with a price. On the same defensive series in the third quarter, right ends Keala Watson and Renolds Fruean left with injuries.

Watson had started in place of Ikaika Alama-Francis, who is suffering from back spasms caused by a strained lumbar.

The Vandals, in their first season under former NFL coach Dennis Erickson, fell to 4-5 and 3-2.

The Warriors won the coin toss and dominated after that in racing to a 35-10 halftime lead.

Dickerson took the opening kickoff at the goal line, and following a four-man wedge — Bully Fergstrom, David Veikune, Amani Purcell and Malcolm Lane — broke to his left and sprinted untouched to the end zone.

That set the tone for the Warriors, who scored on each of their four possessions of the first half.

Brennan, who entered as the nation's leader in passing efficiency, threw first-half scoring passes to left wideout Jason Rivers, left slotback Davone Bess and running back Nate Ilaoa. Ilaoa also scored on a 1-yard run.

The Vandals' only first-half touchdown came on Steve Wichman's 2-yard pass to Wendell Octave. But the Vandals had difficulty advancing against the Warriors' aggressive defense. The Warriors rotated defensive linemen every fifth play, refreshing the pressure applied to Wichman.

UH's defense also was fueled by a boisterous student section. UH officials passed out 1,000 pairs of ThunderStix-like noisemakers to the student section. Spurred by the crowd, UH held the Vandals to a field goal despite six consecutive downs in the red zone in the second quarter.

Ryan Grice-Mullins, who missed the past four games because of a sprained left ankle, started at right slotback and shared playing time with Dickerson.

The Warriors extended their lead to 21-7 on Brennan's 2-yard scoring pass to Bess with 14:08 left in the second quarter. The play was set up when Grice-Mullins went into motion, drawing coverage away from Bess, who broke free on a crossing pattern.

After the Vandals closed to 21-10, the Warriors scored the final two touchdowns of the half.

Ilaoa was ruled to have scored on a 10-yard run. But the replay officials nullified the touchdown, ruling Ilaoa's knee touched the ground at the 1. On the next play, Ilaoa scored untouched on a pitch from Brennan around the left side.

In the first half, Brennan completed 24 of 30 passes for 201 yards. He also rushed four times for 57 yards.