RUSTON, La. — This time there would be no changing into street clothes in the locker room at halftime and coming out to pose for pictures behind the bench.

This time, unlike last week, the University of Hawai'i football team had to go the distance — 4 hours and 23 minutes — to sweat out a 45-44 overtime victory over Louisiana Tech, a team that very nearly took down the Warriors and their season of promise.

"Hi mom!" was replaced by "oh, my gosh" — or more descriptive words to that end.

Only when cornerback Gerard Lewis batted down a two-point conversion pass attempt in the end zone, a season-saver that echoed like a Kim Willoughby spike, did the 20th-ranked Warriors dare breath a sigh of relief at the conclusion of the second-longest game in school history.

In that, the Bulldogs, under rookie 34-year-old head coach Derek Dooley, did UH a huge favor. Not just in a gutsy try for two points instead of kicking the extra point but ultimately in making them work and grind like a 28-point favorite hardly expected to.

"We never saw this coming," acknowledged a succession of Warriors and they were not alone in either the crowd of 22,135 at Joe Aillet Stadium or the Warrior Nation tuning in from home. Of course, we rarely saw the Warriors for two quarters, either.

We finally saw the Warriors approach their best only when pushed to it. And pushed hard in the 87-degree heat. Maybe from now on in this 12-game regular season, the stark reminders of how close their season of portent was to turning to disappointment, in their minds, we'll see what the Warriors are capable of earlier rather than later.

Perhaps now they fully grasp that being the 20th-ranked team in the country comes with a mighty burden of proof. They need to have more than a nodding realization that they are going to get everybody's best shot every night out. They should understand that the longer you let an underdog linger, the more they become emboldened and inspired. Shaking Tech was like, well, getting a Bulldog off your pants leg.

In this, Tech, a team UH chewed up 61-17, was a perfect example. And an invaluable lesson to be taken to heart. For a game like this had to happen and, for UH, better here and now, in a situation where the Warriors could be their own worst enemies for parts of four quarters and still pull things out, was the best place.

You wouldn't want to spot San Jose State or Nevada a 14-0 lead on the road and expect to see your name in the polls again. You can't expect to cough up the ball three more times than you get it (which was zero) and suffer a blocked field goal and come out with a win against Fresno State, Boise State or Washington.

Indeed, UH kicker Dan Kelly, who nailed a 49-yard field goal to help force overtime, said memories of the Boise State breakdown of last year raced through his mind. A potential Western Athletic Conference championship season dashed early by breakdowns.

In the end we saw a UH team galvanized by the challenge it has assumed and rally to meet it. We saw leaders emerged and big-play performers step to the front. We glimpsed some of what took the Warriors to 11-3 last year and enticed a Sugar Bowl representative to be on hand to take a peek last night.

But now, hopefully, these Warriors know that it is not just OK, but necessary to do all that a whole lot earlier, too.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.