Hawaii was on the receiving end of Saturday’s first giveaway.

The Rainbow Warriors were far too generous hosts for the rest of the evening at the Ching Complex in a 49-17 loss to Western Kentucky.

After the Hilltoppers muffed a punt on the game’s opening possession, the flow of turnovers shifted in their favor to dictate the course of the game.

Their first two interceptions set up or led directly to touchdowns in WKU’s 21-point second quarter. Another pick and a fumble on a kickoff return helped the Hilltoppers pull away en route to a celebratory trip back to Bowling Green, Ky.

“On offense there’s just too many mistakes,” UH coach Timmy Chang said after the Warriors fell to 0-2 heading into this week’s trip to Michigan. “You gotta make sure you take care of the football, that’s probably the No. 1 priority in football.”

After UH was forced to punt on the game’s opening possession, Matthew Shipley’s driving kick forced WKU returner Upton Stout to drift toward his end zone. He bobbled the ball to the turf and UH’s Riley Wilson pounced on it at the WKU 3. But the UH offense quickly yielded 20 yards and settled for a field goal to score first for the second straight week.

But as in the opener against Vanderbilt, the lead evaporated swiftly.

The Warriors’ turnovers have proven particularly damaging, with three returned for touchdowns in the first six quarters of the season. Vanderbilt scored on fumble returns of 28 and 14 yards on its way to a 63-10 Week Zero win in Chang’s debut.

After Western Kentucky converted an interception of UH starter Joey Yellen into a 10-play scoring drive to take a 7-3 lead, the Hilltoppers’ defense took care of the next score on its own.

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Brayden Schager entered the game to start the second quarter and after three handoffs dropped back for his first pass attempt of the game. His screen pass under duress floated into the arms of defensive end Juwuan Jones, who had 38 yards of open turf in front of him and the Hilltoppers suddenly led 14-3 after two scores in less than two minutes.

“It’s hard to overcome those, turnovers that turn into six points,” Chang said. “That’s 21 points in two games, it’s tough to overcome those and win games.

“Despite that, I thought we were still in the game, but we can’t keep giving good teams in college football the opportunities that we did tonight.”

Schager finished with four interceptions while completing 22 of 33 passes for 230 yards, with a couple of picks coming off of tipped throws.

“It goes back to shared culpability like (offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker) always says,” Schager said. “Everyone could have been better on those, myself included. We have to continue to work on that, be better and make more plays.”

Chang noted breakdowns in fundamentals on a fourth-down attempt in the third quarter. Schager’s low throw was tipped into the air and picked off by WKU’s Kaleb Oliver, who returned it 42 yards to the UH 17. The Hilltoppers scored on the next play to stretch the lead to 28-10 midway through the third quarter.

“We want to be in rhythm with your feet, because the better rhythm with your feet, you’re going to be accurate with your throw … and anything we touch, we want to catch,” Chang said.

“So in just that instance, quarterback can be better, receiver can be better and those are the little fundamentals that we’re not executing. … That’s a fourth-down play that keeps the chains moving. It’s a different scenario, it’s a different game, it’s a different feel. We gotta understand that we have to be better in everything we do.”