Once again, the good times for the University of Hawaii football team came with an expiration point.

Several mistakes — some self-inflicted, some hard luck — resulted in the Rainbow Warriors’ 49-17 loss to Western Kentucky at the Ching Complex.

For the second consecutive Saturday, the Warriors were trounced in front of a capacity home crowd announced at 9,346. They have been outscored 112-27.

“It hurts,” UH defensive coordinator Jacob Yoro said. “The kids worked their asses off all week. They accepted the challenge we gave them. They came out and played their asses off again, but we still didn’t get the result we wanted. It’s back to the drawing board.”

The Warriors benefited from a Hilltoppers mistake to take a 3-0 lead. After the Warriors’ first drive stalled, Matthew Shipley launched a towering punt. Upton Stout hot-potatoed the return attempt, and UH’s Riley Wilson recovered the football at the WKU 15. After a sack and a holding penalty retreated the Warriors to the 23, Shipley connected on a 40-yard field goal. It was a surprising performance for Shipley, whose availability was considered questionable because of an ailment earlier in the week.

But the Hilltoppers scored three touchdowns to take a 21-10 lead into the intermission. Turnovers were the pulled strings that unraveled the Warriors. A Joey Yellen pass that ricocheted off two Hilltoppers before being intercepted preceded a 10-play, 68-yard touchdown drive.

Brayden Schager, who replaced Yellen in the second quarter, tried to throw a screen pass. But the Hilltoppers had called for a pressure package, and defensive end Juwuan Jones, who had cut off the passing lane, intercepted. Jones raced 38 yards for a touchdown to extend WKU’s lead to 14-3.

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“Sometimes those guys are coming in there hot,” Schager said. “I have to remember to stick to my fundamentals. That’s something I’ve tried to work on with Coach (Timmy) Chang. Even when the game gets a little crazy, that’s the one thing I can improve on.”

It was Cammon Cooper, the third UH quarterback, who finished a scoring drive that Schager engineered. From the 9, Cooper, who is considered the most mobile of the five UH quarterbacks, took the snap, rolled to his right and pitched to Dedrick Parson, who ran into the end zone to close the Warriors to 14-10.

The Hilltoppers quickly answered, with Western Florida transfer Austin Reed connecting with tight end Josh Simon on a 47-yard, catch-and-dash play. Simon, who is one of the Hilltoppers’ most versatile receivers, did not catch a pass in his only target the previous week. This time, Simon secured the pass at the UH 20 and then absorbed or evaded five would-be tackles on the way to the end zone for a 21-10 halftime lead.

“Right now, we’re being tested,” said Chang, who was hired by his alma mater in January. “It’s how we respond and get better from these experiences.”

If the Warriors did not have bad breaks, they would not have any breaks at all in the second half. Schager was intercepted three more times — twice on passes that ricocheted off UH receivers. Kaleb Oliver was the recipient of both deflections. Oliver suctioned a pass intended for wideout Dior Scott and raced 42 yards the other way to set up a WKU touchdown.

Later, slotback James Phillips slipped as he tried to make a back-pedaling catch of a Schager pass. The ball hit off Phillilps, and Oliver made the acrobatic pick.

Jalen Perdue’s fumble on a kickoff return was the Warriors’ sixth turnover, the most in a game since 2019.

“We’re in the process of figuring it out,” Chang said. “They’re gaining experience as they go. Right now, it looks the way it looks because we’re making too many mistakes. As coaches, we’ve got to put them in good positions.”

Chang also expressed disappointment in two unsportsmanlike penalties that affected field position.

“It’s not a team we want to be,” Chang said of the penalties. “There’s not a place for that in Hawaii football.”

Following the season-opening loss to Vanderbilt, the Warriors wanted to go with a scaled-down, time-consuming offense. Against the Hilltoppers’ five-man front — two outside linebackers bracketed the down linemen — the Warriors rotated Parson and Nasjzae Bryant-Lelei, both low-leverage runners. Each accounted for one of the Warriors’ two touchdowns.

The Warriors also opened with Yellen, who transferred from Pittsburgh in May. “Yellen had good practices,” Chang said. “We thought coming off last week, even though he didn’t put up points (against Vanderbilt), we thought he moved the ball pretty well. And he had another great week of practice.”

But Yellen, who was 4-for-11 for 36 yards, faced pressure from the Hilltoppers. He was sacked twice.

“Schager was practicing well,” Chang said. “We needed a little change-up (in the second quarter). … I thought he did well except for some unfortunate things.”

Schager finished 22-for-33 for 230 yards. He was not sacked.