HOUSTON — As the University of Hawa'i's football game with Louisiana Tech wound down Saturday, the feeling grew that it would come down to one critical situation.

You just hoped it wasn't going to be the haka.

Now, games are decided all the time by one play on the field, but rarely by something that happens off of it and during the pre-game of all things.

Yet, UH faced the prospect of losing a game — and its season of promise — perhaps in part because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty before the game for doing the haka.

As the Warriors pore over video of their play in the 45-44 overtime victory over Tech to find ways to improve, you hope there will be lessons taken from the haka incident, too. For as much as the haka has become a part of UH football, a unifying symbol for players and a fan favorite in the year that the Warriors have been performing it, it isn't something that you'd want to see cost them a game, a championship or a shot at a perfect season.

Until Gerard Lewis broke up a two-point conversion pass attempt in overtime Saturday, there had been the potential for all of that. Officials assessed UH the 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in pregame, head coach June Jones said, for performing the haka on a grassy hill that separates the field from the locker rooms above it. UH performed the ritual faced toward a portion of the stands where a sizeable Hawai'i rooting section had been seated. Well behind the Warriors, Tech players made their way up an opposite part of the hill toward their locker room.

The resulting penalty meant UH kicked off from its 15-yard line and, with the return, the Bulldogs started the game with excellent field position at their 44. The Bulldogs scored on that opening series en route to a 14-0 lead.

Many expressions and actions, including the haka, have come under scrutiny as the NCAA and its individual leagues have placed more of a focus on sportsmanship and preventing altercations. So much so that in the Western Athletic Conference, where UH and New Mexico State both perform the haka, commissioner Karl Benson issued a directive requesting, but not ordering, that teams not perform it at road games. Wherever it is performed, however, it must be done when the opposing team isn't around or a penalty may be called under NCAA rules.

The WAC maintains the haka isn't being targeted and UH isn't under special scrutiny. Though amid reports of complaints by Tech last year, you have to wonder.

But, just as some teams come in for closer inspection on holding or pass interference calls or certain rules are given stronger emphasis in enforcement, teams learn to adjust. For UH, this doesn't mean doing away with the haka at all. Just making sure the opponent is tucked away in the locker room before it starts.

Otherwise, some day the penalty might end up costing UH a lot more than just 15 yards.

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